UNNATURAL PRACTICES, UNSPEAKABLE ACTIONS - A STUDY OF DELAYED AUDITORY-FEEDBACK IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Objective: It has been suggested that auditory hallucinations and delu sions of control in persons with schizophrenia could involve a disconn ection between an ''intention center'' and a ''monitoring center.'' Me thod: To test this model directly, the authors used a delayed auditory feedback paradigm in which the subject hears his or her own speech de layed electronically by a fraction of a second. In normal subjects thi s produces dysfluency, which is thought to occur because an expectancy about the perceptual arrival of speech, formed in a monitoring center on the basis of corollary discharge from an intention center, is viol ated. If, however, a disconnection were present in schizophrenia, such an expectancy would not be formed; hence, less dysfluency should occu r. Fifteen patients with chronic schizophrenia (10 of whom experienced auditory hallucinations and/or delusions of control) and 19 normal su bjects were studied. Results: Rather than exhibiting less dysfluency t han the normal subjects, patients with delusions and/or hallucinations exhibited significantly more dysfluency. Conclusions: These results d o not support a cognitive model a disconnection.