Charles Fernyhough

Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia and Nonschizophrenia Populations: A Review and Integrated Model of Cognitive Mechanisms

While the majority of cognitive studies on auditory hallucinations (AHs) have been conducted in schizophrenia (SZ), an increasing number of researchers are turning their attention to different clinical and nonclinical populations, often using SZ findings as a model for research. Recent advances derived from SZ studies can therefore be utilized to make substantial progress on AH research in other groups. The objectives of this article were to (1) present an up-to-date review regarding the cognitive mechanisms of AHs in SZ, (2) review findings from cognitive research conducted in other clinical and nonclinical groups, and (3) integrate these recent findings into a cohesive framework. First, SZ studies show that the cognitive underpinnings of AHs include self-source-monitoring deficits and executive and inhibitory control dysfunctions as well as distortions in top-down mechanisms, perceptual and linguistic processes, and emotional factors. Second, consistent with SZ studies, findings in other population groups point to the role of top-down processing, abnormalities in executive inhibition, and negative emotions. Finally, we put forward an integrated model of AHs that incorporates the above findings. We suggest that AHs arise from an interaction between abnormal neural activation patterns that produce salient auditory signals and top-down mechanisms that include signal detection errors, executive and inhibition deficits, a tapestry of expectations and memories, and state characteristics that influence how these experiences are interpreted. Emotional factors play a particular prominent role at all levels of this hierarchy. Our model is distinctively powerful in explaining a range of phenomenological characteristics of AH across a spectrum of disorders.

Social Predictors of Psychotic Experiences: Specificity and Psychological Mechanisms

It has become widely accepted that the psychotic disorders are endpoints of atypical developmental trajectories indexed by abnormal emotional and cognitive development early in life. However, the role of environmental factors in determining these trajectories has received relatively little attention. In this article, we argue that (1) the influence of environment on psychosis can best be understood if we focus on specific types of psychotic experiences such as hallucinations and delusions, (2) these symptoms are the products of specific cognitive biases and deficits, and (3) the development of these particular patterns of cognitive functioning is influenced by specific kinds of environmental adversity. This approach is at variance with more conventional approaches because it suggests that each type of experience, rather than being the manifestation of a common underlying illness process, is a product of a specific set of causal variables. Importantly, these variables include environmental determinants, although not to the exclusion of endogenous factors such as neurodevelopmental impairment or genetic vulnerability. We discuss the implications of this approach for neurobiological and genetic research into psychosis, as well as clinical practice.

The characteristic features of auditory verbal hallucinations in clinical and nonclinical groups: state-of-the-art overview and future directions.

Despite a growing interest in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in different clinical and nonclinical groups, the phenomenological characteristics of such experiences have not yet been reviewed and contrasted, limiting our understanding of these phenomena on multiple empirical, theoretical, and clinical levels. We look at some of the most prominent descriptive features of AVHs in schizophrenia (SZ). These are then examined in clinical conditions including substance abuse, Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, dementia, late-onset SZ, mood disorders, borderline personality disorder, hearing impairment, and dissociative disorders. The phenomenological changes linked to AVHs in prepsychotic stages are also outlined, together with a review of AVHs in healthy persons. A discussion of key issues and future research directions concludes the review.

Young Children’s Trust in Their Mother’s Claims: Longitudinal Links With Attachment Security in Infancy

In a longitudinal study of attachment, children (N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either persons claim but children generally accepted the mothers claims over those of the stranger. In a 3rd task, the perceptual cues favored the strangers claims, and children generally accepted her claims over those of the mother. However, childrens pattern of responding varied by attachment status. The strategy of relying on the mother or the stranger, depending on the available perceptual cues, was especially evident among secure children. Insecure-avoidant children displayed less reliance on their mothers claims, irrespective of the available cues, whereas insecure-resistant children displayed more.

The dialogic mind: A dialogic approach to the higher mental functions

Abstract Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Wertsch and others, I outline a framework for the study of the higher mental functions that views them as dialogic processes derived from interpersonal activity. According to this view, the higher mental functions develop through the progressive internalization of semiotically manifested perspectives on reality, such that mature functioning involves the simultaneous coming-into-conflict of differing internalized perspectives. I suggest that such an approach goes some way to account for the open-ended and unconstrained nature of higher mental functioning. I also consider some implications of this approach for current research in developmental psychology, with particular reference to the role of care-givers in mental development, the emergence of perspective-taking and mentalizing abilities in early childhood, and the deficits associated with early childhood autism.

Private speech, executive functioning, and the development of verbal self-regulation

Preface Laura Berk Introduction/Overview Adam Winsler, Charles Fernyhough and Ignacio Montero Part I. Overview, Theoretical, and Biological Foundations: 1. Still talking to ourselves after all these years: a review of current research on private speech Adam Winsler 2. Dialogic thinking Charles Fernyhough 3. The executive functions of language in preschool children Ulrich Muller, Sophie Jaques, Karin Brocki and Philip David Zelazo 4. The neuropsychology of covert and overt speech: implications for the study of private speech in children and adults Simon Jones Part II. Language, Communication, Social Cognition and Awareness: 5. Talking and thinking: the role of speech in social understanding Jeremy Carpendale, Charles Lewis, Noah Susswein and Joanna Lunn 6. Private speech and theory of mind: evidence for developing functional relations Charles Fernyhough and Elizabeth Meins 7. Development of communicative competence through private and inner speech Peter Feigenbaum 8. Private speech in the framework of referential communication Conchi San Martin Martinez, Humbert Boada and Maria Forns Santacana 9. Preschool childrens awareness and theory of speech Louis Manfra 10. Younger childrens knowledge about overt and covert private speech John Flavell and Adrian A. Wong Part III. Symbols and Tools Throughout the Lifespan: 11. Private pointing and private speech: development of executive function Begona Delgado, Juan Carolos Gomez and Encarnacion Sarria 12. Symbols as tools in the development of executive function Stephanie Carlson and Danielle M. Beck 13. On the persistence of private speech: empirical and theoretical considerations Robert M. Duncan and Donato Tartulli 14. Private speech beyond childhood: testing the developmental hypothesis Jose Sanchez-Medina, David Alarcon Rubio and Manuel de la Mata Part IV. Motivational and Educational Applications: 15. Private speech and motivation: the role of language in a sociocultural account of motivational processes David J. Atencio and Ignacio Montero 16. Creativity and private speech in young children C. Stephen White and Martha Daugherty 17. Early childhood teachers awareness, beliefs, and practices toward childrens private speech Carla Deniz Afterword James Wertsch.

Auditory verbal hallucinations in persons with and without a need for care

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are complex experiences that occur in the context of various clinical disorders. AVH also occur in individuals from the general population who have no identifiable psychiatric or neurological diagnoses. This article reviews research on AVH in nonclinical individuals and provides a cross-disciplinary view of the clinical relevance of these experiences in defining the risk of mental illness and need for care. Prevalence rates of AVH vary according to measurement tool and indicate a continuum of experience in the general population. Cross-sectional comparisons of individuals with AVH with and without need for care reveal similarities in phenomenology and some underlying mechanisms but also highlight key differences in emotional valence of AVH, appraisals, and behavioral response. Longitudinal studies suggest that AVH are an antecedent of clinical disorders when combined with negative emotional states, specific cognitive difficulties and poor coping, plus family history of psychosis, and environmental exposures such as childhood adversity. However, their predictive value for specific psychiatric disorders is not entirely clear. The theoretical and clinical implications of the reviewed findings are discussed, together with directions for future research.

Mind-Mindedness in Children: Individual Differences in Internal-State Talk in Middle Childhood.

Childrens use of internal-state language during 2 tasks (book narration and describing a best friend) was investigated in a sample (N=38) of 7- to 9-year-olds. Proportional use of internal-state talk on the two tasks was highly positively correlated, a relation that was independent of verbosity, age, verbal ability and the use of non-internal-state language. Theory of mind (ToM) performance, assessed using Happes (1994) strange stories task, was not related to childrens proportional use of internal-state language on either task. We suggest that these cross-task relations provide evidence of individual differences in childrens spontaneous use of internal-state language that are independent of their capacities for representing those internal states.

Thought as action : inner speech, self-monitoring, and auditory verbal hallucinations

Passivity experiences in schizophrenia are thought to be due to a failure in a neurocognitive action self-monitoring system (NASS). Drawing on the assumption that inner speech is a form of action, a recent model of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) has proposed that AVHs can be explained by a failure in the NASS. In this article, we offer an alternative application of the NASS to AVHs, with separate mechanisms creating the emotion of self-as-agent and other-as-agent. We defend the assumption that inner speech can be considered as a form of action, and show how a number of previous criticisms of applying the NASS to AVHs can be refuted. This is achieved in part through taking a Vygotskian developmental perspective on inner speech. It is suggested that more research into the nature and development of inner speech is needed to further our understanding of AVHs.

Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology.

Inner speech—also known as covert speech or verbal thinking—has been implicated in theories of cognitive development, speech monitoring, executive function, and psychopathology. Despite a growing body of knowledge on its phenomenology, development, and function, approaches to the scientific study of inner speech have remained diffuse and largely unintegrated. This review examines prominent theoretical approaches to inner speech and methodological challenges in its study, before reviewing current evidence on inner speech in children and adults from both typical and atypical populations. We conclude by considering prospects for an integrated cognitive science of inner speech, and present a multicomponent model of the phenomenon informed by developmental, cognitive, and psycholinguistic considerations. Despite its variability among individuals and across the life span, inner speech appears to perform significant functions in human cognition, which in some cases reflect its developmental origins and its sharing of resources with other cognitive processes.