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A psychophysical investigation of auditory functioning in schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Collicutt J. R.,
Hemsley D. R.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1981.tb00518.x
Subject(s) - psychology , audiology , perception , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , sensory system , anxiety , sensory deprivation , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , psychiatry , medicine
The present report is of the application of Treisman's (1964) model of perceptual functioning to the study of schizophrenic hallucinations. It was hypothesized that hallucinators would perform on an auditory threshold task as if possessing a perceptual system showing high levels of spontaneous neural activity ( I n ). Three groups were compared on the Weber functions for pure tone intensity: schizophrenic hallucinators, old people and anxiety neurotics. From these functions, estimates of I n were calculated using Barlow's (1957 b ) method. No group differences were found. An alternative explanation of schizophrenic hallucinations, in terms of increased responsiveness to normal levels of background sensory activity, is proposed.