Dudley Robert, Dodgson Guy, Sarll Gabrielle, Halhead Racheal, Bolas Helen, McCarthy-Jones Simon
Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, UK.
Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2014 Sep;45(3):311-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.02.002. Epub 2014 Feb 14.
A recent model of a subtype of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) has proposed such experiences may result from increased arousal altering auditory threat perception.
This study considered this theory using undergraduate students who undertook a new experimental paradigm, the Auditory Threat Discrimination Task (ATDT). This examined the effects of arousal on auditory threat perception (Study 1), and its relation to hallucination-proneness (Study 2).
Study 1 (n = 66) found evidence that the high, as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of accurate and false threat detection (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms). Study 2 addressed some methodological limitations of Study 1 and also found that the high as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of threat detection. Study 2 also found that high hallucination prone participants (n = 20) reported a higher level of perceived threat (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms), compared to low hallucination prone participants (n = 20).
Overall limitations of the work included use of a non-clinical group. Also the increased arousal induced by the experiment was modest and may not fully represent the processes in operation in clinical participants.
These findings provide some initial evidence that auditory threat detection increases under conditions of arousal, and are consistent with the proposal that some AVHs may result from hypervigilance to auditory threat.
最近一种关于幻听（AVHs）亚型的模型提出，此类体验可能是由于觉醒增加改变了听觉威胁感知所致。
本研究采用一种新的实验范式——听觉威胁辨别任务（ATDT），让本科生参与，以此来验证这一理论。该实验考察了觉醒对听觉威胁感知的影响（研究1），以及它与幻觉倾向的关系（研究2）。
研究1（n = 66）发现，与低觉醒状态相比，高觉醒状态与更高水平的准确和错误威胁检测相关（通过命中次数和误报次数来衡量）。研究2解决了研究1的一些方法学局限性，也发现与低觉醒状态相比，高觉醒状态与更高水平的威胁检测相关。研究2还发现，与低幻觉倾向参与者（n = 20）相比，高幻觉倾向参与者（n = 20）报告的感知威胁水平更高（通过命中次数和误报次数来衡量）。
这项研究的总体局限性包括使用了非临床群体。此外，实验诱发的觉醒增加程度适中，可能无法完全代表临床参与者实际发生的过程。
这些发现提供了一些初步证据，表明在觉醒状态下听觉威胁检测会增加，这与某些幻听可能源于对听觉威胁过度警觉的观点一致。
