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Paracingulate sulcus morphology is associated with hallucinations in the human brain.


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Authors

Garrison, Jane R 
Fernyhough, Charles 
McCarthy-Jones, Simon 
Haggard, Mark 
Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank 

Abstract

Hallucinations are common in psychiatric disorders, and are also experienced by many individuals who are not mentally ill. Here, in 153 participants, we investigate brain structural markers that predict the occurrence of hallucinations by comparing patients with schizophrenia who have experienced hallucinations against patients who have not, matched on a number of demographic and clinical variables. Using both newly validated visual classification techniques and automated, data-driven methods, hallucinations were associated with specific brain morphology differences in the paracingulate sulcus, a fold in the medial prefrontal cortex, with a 1 cm reduction in sulcal length increasing the likelihood of hallucinations by 19.9%, regardless of the sensory modality in which they were experienced. The findings suggest a specific morphological basis for a pervasive feature of typical and atypical human experience.

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Keywords

Adult, Brain, Case-Control Studies, Female, Hallucinations, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Organ Size, Prefrontal Cortex, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

6

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (G0001354)
Medical Research Council (G1000183)
Wellcome Trust (093875/Z/10/Z)
JRG was supported by a University of Cambridge Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute studentship, funded by a joint award from the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. CF was supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award. SMJ was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. JSS was supported by a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar award. Data were provided by the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank (ASRB; CIs, Carr V, Schall U, Scott R, Jablensky A, Mowry B, Michie P, Catts S, Henskens F, Pantelis C, Loughland C), which is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Pratt Foundation, Ramsay Health Care, the Viertel Charitable Foundation and the Schizophrenia Research Institute.