Kot Tommy, Serper Mark
Department of Psychology, Hofstra University, Hauser Hall, Hempstead, New York 11549-1350, USA.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 2002 May;190(5):282-8. doi: 10.1097/00005053-200205000-00002.
Auditory hallucinations have been elicited in the laboratory after repeated pairings of a tone (unconditioned stimulus) with a light (conditioned stimulus), until the presentation of the light alone resulted in subjects hearing the tone. This auditory sensory-conditioning phenomenon was first reported in normal subjects over a half-century ago. But the model remains, to date, untested in actively hallucinating patients. If sensory-conditioning mechanisms actually mediate the occurrence of clinical hallucinations, one would expect that hallucinating patients would more readily acquire and be more resistant to extinguish a conditioned hallucination than nonhallucinating psychotic patients. The present study examined the susceptibility of 15 hallucinating and 15 nonhallucinating acute schizophrenic inpatients to acquire and maintain a sensory-conditioned hallucination response. Consistent with the auditory sensory-conditioning model, evidence suggests that hallucinating patients acquire and maintain sensory-conditioned hallucinations more quickly than their nonhallucinating counterparts. Results are discussed in terms of hallucinators' susceptibility to sensory conditioning and suggestibility as important factors underlying hallucinatory behavior. The findings are interpreted with respect to the behavioral mechanisms underlying psychotic symptom formation.
在实验室中，通过将一种音调（无条件刺激）与一种光线（条件刺激）反复配对，直至仅呈现光线就能使受试者听到音调，从而诱发了幻听。这种听觉感觉条件作用现象早在半个多世纪前就在正常受试者中首次被报道。但迄今为止，该模型尚未在有主动幻觉的患者身上进行测试。如果感觉条件作用机制实际上介导了临床幻觉的发生，那么可以预期，与无幻觉的精神病患者相比，有幻觉的患者会更容易获得并更难消除条件性幻觉。本研究考察了15名有幻觉的急性精神分裂症住院患者和15名无幻觉的急性精神分裂症住院患者获得并维持感觉条件性幻觉反应的易感性。与听觉感觉条件作用模型一致，有证据表明，有幻觉的患者比无幻觉的患者更快地获得并维持感觉条件性幻觉。研究结果从幻觉者对感觉条件作用的易感性和暗示性方面进行了讨论，表明这些是幻觉行为的重要潜在因素。研究结果还从精神病症状形成的行为机制方面进行了解释。
