Hallucinations from the Perspective of Altered Experiences of Self: A Multidisciplinary Approach

About this Research Topic

Background

Historically, research on auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH) focused on the misattributed agency of speech and abnormal corollary discharge between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Recently, a growing body of philosophical, phenomenological and cognitive neuroscience research indicates that self-experiences and their disturbances are more complex than that of agency and related constructs. This becomes particularly salient when we consider the role of multimodal hallucinations alongside the more well-studied AVH, especially when we consider self and self-disturbances in schizophrenia-spectrum psychoses. The experience of self involves multiple domains and processes, including multisensory integration and bodily experiences; conversely, hallucinations research suggests multiple alterations in experience of self. Given these considerations, a single model cannot explain the complex phenomenology of hallucinations or how they vary between subtypes, dimensions and models in psychosis, altered states of consciousness, and psychomimetic model psychoses. Furthermore, current knowledge is scattered among many disciplines and begs for a multidisciplinary and cohesive synthesis.

Hallucinations have been the subject of inquiry of a wide range of disciplines. The goal of this themed issue is to present the reader with a cohesive understanding grounded in philosophy, culture, cognitive neuroscience and clinical science of the experience of self related to hallucinations. The hope is that this understanding will be a catalyst for new ways of thinking about these challenging topics, constructing research ideas, collaborations and projects. For this purpose, we plan to bring together global interdisciplinary researchers concerned with self, experience of self and the experience of hallucinations across the continuum from nonclinical to clinical presentations. We will offer a balanced view of current debates about models of self and hallucinations, taking into account the nuances and complexity of doing phenomenology. Contributors are invited to present their latest research as well as the conceptualization of key issues and debates on this topic. This themed issue will end with a synthesis of all contributions that include outlining future research questions and how they might impact clinical practice and influence health policy.

• Philosophical approaches to self (phenomenology, critical theory, philosophy of science, hermeneutic and analytic views): open debate
• Cultural and anthropological factors underlying self and hallucinations
• Cognitive neuroscience of self relevant to hallucinations (verbal, unimodal and multimodal)
• Models of self and hallucinations: phenomenological, cognitive, metacognitive, neurobiological, neurocomputational, social deafferentation/ sensory deprivation
• Phenomenological method and research of self and hallucinations: Historical and contemporary perspectives and debates
• Brain structural/ functional imaging/ electrophysiological research of self in hallucinations
• Neurocomputational approaches to hallucinations and self (including psychosis)
• Psychotomimetic model psychosis, altered states of consciousness and neuropsychiatric disorders
• Hypnagogic, hypnopompic, oneiric hallucinations, sleep paralysis, multimodal imagery, autoscopy and consciousness
• Hallucination and self in non-clinical and clinical samples (grief, prodromal delusional mood, brief psychosis, mood changes)
• Specific altered experiences, permeation of self-other boundaries
• Specific altered experiences, alterations of sensorimotor, spatial, temporal, embodied, dialogical self in hallucinations in unimodal and multimodal hallucinations
• Specific altered experiences, alienation of thought possession
• Specific altered experiences, loudness of inner thoughts
• Specific altered experiences, intrusiveness, vividness, clarity, synesthesia
• Effective individual engagement in study of self, hallucinations, and imagination
• Treatment informed by altered self in hallucinations
• Hallucinations as altered experiences of the self, current knowledge and future directions “Synthesis”

This Research Topics welcomes original research, reviews, opinions, perspectives, etc.

Keywords: Auditory-verbal hallucinations, Multimodal hallucinations, Experience of self, Psychosis

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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