Auditory verbal hallucinations and dysfunction of the neural substrates ofspeech

Objective: to evaluate the neural substrate of auditory verbal hallucinatio ns (AVH), the correlation between AVH and subvocal speech (hereafter SVS), and the relationship between speech and AVH. Method: we reviewed the papers found by an electronic literature search on hallucinations and speech. The review was extended to the papers cited in these publications and to class ical works. Results: there is no conclusive evidence of structural abnormal ity of the speech perception area in hallucinating schizophrenic patients. However there is evidence of electrophysiological abnormalities: of the aud itory and speech perception cortices. Functional imaging data are inconsist ent, yet point to the left superior temporal gyrus as one of the neural sub strates for AVH. There is also evidence that SVS could accompany the experi ence of AVH. Conclusion: there is evidence that dysfunction of brain areas responsible for speech generation is a fundamental mechanism for generating AVH in schizophrenia. It results in a secondary activation of Wernicke's a rea (speech perception) and Broca's area (speech expression). The first lea ding to the experience of hallucinations, and the second, eventually, gives rise to a variable degree of vocal muscle activity detectable by EMG, and/ or faint vocalizations detectable by sensitive microphones placed at proxim ity of the larynx. Direct stimulation or disease of Wernicke's area produce s AVH without SVS. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.