THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - BRAIN IMAGING STUDIES

The present proposal attempts to respond to the challenges for neuroscience research in Norway and stated in the Nevronor Programme announcement January 2007. We specify six empirical , hypothesis-driven studies wher we attempt to: a) use fMRI and other MRI brain imaging measures to advance knowledge of mediating mechanisms in auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia, b) extending Bergen-Oslo networking to Tromsø and Stavanger, to fully benefit from existing expertise in Norway in research on psychosis, and c) develop new interdisciplinary collaborative links, using new imaging protocols, thus bridging medicine, technology, and psychology. There are several reasons for a focus on auditory hallucinations; i) hallucinations are major symptoms in schizophre nia, causing reality distortions for the patient, ii) previous research by the Bergen and Oslo groups have revealed behavioral and neuronal abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia (Neckelmann et al., 2006; Løberg et al., 2005; Hugdahl et al., 2003, H enriksson et al., 2006, Jensen et al., 2003). We also intend to establish a new kind of collaboration with regard to neuroimaging data in Norway where patients with the same symptom profiles will be scanned at both the Bergen and Oslo sites, using the sam e scanning stimulus protocols. This is made possible through the new BIRN scanning tool for acquiring data at different sites that can be pooled, developed by Steven Potkin and Anders Dale and colleagues. To our knowledge, such an approach has never been taken for the study of specific symptoms, like hallucinations, which require careful clinical diagnosis and identification. Precise quantitative analysis and comparison of image data across sites is often severely hampered by site-specific factors, such a s scanner hardware and software versions.