Functional neuroimaging of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia

Abstract

The neurobiological basis underlying auditory hallucinations generation, distressing and paradigmatic symptom of schizophrenia, is still unknown despite the in-depth phenomenological descriptions. The purpose of this work is to make a critical review the latest published literature about the functional neuroimaging (PET, SPECT, fMRI) of auditory hallucinations.

Thus, the studies were classified depending on if they were sensory activation, trait and state. It is also explained the two main hypothesis about the hallucination generation: external speech vs. subvocal or inner speech. Finally, the latest unitary theory is commented as well as the limitations of the previous reported studies. Further research is needed in this area, that it is still underdeveloped, to better understand the etiopathogenesis of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.