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Connectivity Issues of the ‘Hallucinating’ Brain

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Abstract

Imaging studies of structural and functional/effective connectivity in the hallucinating brain has provided evidence for the notion that the neurobiological mechanisms underlying hallucinations and their complex and diverse phenomenology cannot be understood solely in terms of localised structural and functional abnormalities. Connectivity impairment has become central to a number of contemporary neurobiological theories of hallucinations, including those which focus on brain networks implicated in attention and perception, language, and self-monitoring. In this chapter we review the relevant functional and structural neuroimaging literature and discuss the limitations of the currently available methods as well as the main challenges for future research on the hallucinating brain.

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Abbreviations

ACC:

Anterior cingulate cortex

AF:

Arcuate fasciculus

AVHs:

Auditory verbal hallucinations

DCM:

Dynamic causal model

DLB:

Dementia with Lewy bodies

DTI:

Diffusion tensor imaging

DWI:

Diffusion Weighted Imaging

EEG:

Electro-encephalogram

FA:

Fractional anisotropy

fMRI:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

HPPD:

Hallucinogen persisting perceptual disorder

IFG:

Inferior frontal gyrus

ILF:

Inferior longitudinal fasciculus

LSD:

Lysergic acid diethylamide

MD:

Mean diffusivity

MEG:

Magnetic-encephalogram

PET:

Positron emission tomography

PPI:

Psycho-physiological interactions

RA:

Relative anisotropy

ROIs:

Regions of interest

SLF:

Superior longitudinal fasciculus

sPT:

Sylvian parieto-temporal

STG:

Superior parietal gyrus

TBSS:

Tract-based spatial statistics

TPJ:

Temporo-parietal junction

VBM:

Voxel-based morphometry

VHs:

Visual hallucinations

WM:

White matter

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Correspondence to Stefania Benetti .

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Benetti, S., Pettersson-Yeo, W., Mechelli, A. (2013). Connectivity Issues of the ‘Hallucinating’ Brain. In: Jardri, R., Cachia, A., Thomas, P., Pins, D. (eds) The Neuroscience of Hallucinations. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4121-2_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4121-2_22

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