Scientists Trace 'Voices' in Schizophrenia

By Daniel Goleman
Published: September 22, 1993

Hearing voices, the hallmark symptom of schizophrenia, occurs when there is a heightened activity in the same part of the brain people use when they speak or think words, new findings suggest.

The results support a leading psychological theory of auditory hallucinations, which proposes that when people with schizophrenia hear voices, they are unable to recognize them as their own thoughts, and so perceive them as words spoken by someone else. ...

Diagram: "Looking for Voices in the Brain" New research on the auditory hallucinations common in schizophrenia has tracked the blood flow in the brain that reflects the neural activity of people as they hear such voices. The greatest activity was found in Broca's area, the brain's speech center. It is also activated when people who do not have schizophrenia silently talk to themselves. An earlier study of auditory hallucinations also found an increase in activity in Broca's area and reduced activity in Wernicke's area, which is associated with hearing. The new study also found a slight increase in the left temporal lobe, site of the auditory cortex, where the meanings of sounds are recognized, and in the left anterior cingulate cortex (not shown), associated with emotions. Diagram shows locations of Broca's area (speech center) and Wernicke's area (hearing center)