Psychiatry Neuroimaging Branch, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 21;7(1):8401. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-09253-7.
Our understanding of the neural correlates of auditory-verbal-hallucinations (AVH) has substantially increased during the last few years, but is far from sufficient. One current hypothesis, the interhemispheric miscommunication theory, is based on findings from fMRI, DTI and EEG, but there is only limited evidence so far concerning underlying functional coupling mechanisms. Here we report a 64-channel EEG study using lagged phase synchronization analysis and eLORETA source estimation to examine the functional connectivity between bilateral auditory cortices in the gamma-band in 26 schizophrenia patients (13 with and 13 without AVH) and 26 matched healthy controls (HC) while performing a dichotic listening task. We found a significantly reduced right-ear-advantage (REA) in AVH but not in non-AVH patients compared to HC. The major finding was significantly stronger gamma-band connectivity between bilateral auditory cortices during conscious perception of left (versus right) ear syllables in patients with AVH compared to HC and patients without AVH. A significant positive correlation was found between this connectivity alteration and the AVH symptom score in schizophrenia patients. These findings provide further support for the interhemispheric miscommunication hypothesis of AVH pathophysiology by indicating that aberrant gamma-band coupling between auditory cortices is related to the emergence of AVH in schizophrenia.
近年来，我们对听觉言语幻觉（AVH）的神经相关性的理解有了很大的提高，但还远远不够。目前的一个假设是，半球间通讯错误理论，该理论基于 fMRI、DTI 和 EEG 的发现，但目前关于潜在的功能耦合机制的证据有限。在这里，我们报告了一项使用滞后相位同步分析和 eLORETA 源估计的 64 通道 EEG 研究，以在执行双耳分听任务时检查 26 名精神分裂症患者（13 名有 AVH，13 名无 AVH）和 26 名匹配的健康对照组（HC）双侧听觉皮层之间的伽马波段功能连接。我们发现，与 HC 相比，AVH 患者的右耳优势（REA）明显降低，但非 AVH 患者则没有。主要发现是，与 HC 和非 AVH 患者相比，AVH 患者在有意识地感知左耳（相对于右耳）音节时，双侧听觉皮层之间的伽马波段连接明显更强。在精神分裂症患者中，这种连接改变与 AVH 症状评分呈显著正相关。这些发现通过表明听觉皮层之间异常的伽马波段耦合与精神分裂症中 AVH 的出现有关，为 AVH 病理生理学的半球间通讯错误假说提供了进一步的支持。
