Is there any connection between halucinations and how we think?

[studiot]

Some think in words, some in pictures, some in concepts and I'm sure there are other ways I've missed.

I also believe that most have some combination of these, with a dominant mode.

 

The point I wondered was has any work been done to establish if for example the group who think predominately in pictures have a higher incidence of visual halucinators.

[Function]

Not sure on the "picture group", but here's something on people thinking in words by voice:

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870271/

 

An excerpt:

 

"Prominent models of AVHs have suggested that the experiences arise when an internal mental event is misattributed to an external or non-self source. For example, Frith (1992) suggests that, if inner speech is not recognized as self-initiated, it may be experienced as an AVH. Many models have assumed that the raw material of AVHs is a kind of inner speech (Bentall, 2003; Fernyhough, 2004), although definitions of inner speech have varied, from simply ‘thinking in words’ (McGuire et al., 1995, p. 596) to ‘the overlapping region of thought and speech’ (Jones and Fernyhough, 2007a, p. 148), the latter of which highlights that not all thought processes necessarily take place as inner speech."

Edited June 5, 2017 by Function

[Raider5678]

I talk to myself in my head all the time.

Sometimes I'll even look up to see if someone was talking to me.

[studiot]

Thank you both for you contributions.

[iNow]

Some think in words, some in pictures, some in concepts and I'm sure there are other ways I've missed.

I also believe that most have some combination of these, with a dominant mode.

 

 

The point I wondered was has any work been done to establish if for example the group who think predominately in pictures have a higher incidence of visual halucinators.

It depends on the nature and cause of the hallucination, but there's no simple relationship AFAIK in the way you suggest. Hallucinations could be the result of neurological problems, different drugs, stress, lack of food or sleep...and they impact different areas of the brain in different ways depending on these things. Perhaps more dominant areas of the brain are more active and more likely to be influenced by a hallucination, but I'm not convinced that's the case.

[studiot]

It depends on the nature and cause of the hallucination, but there's no simple relationship AFAIK in the way you suggest. Hallucinations could be the result of neurological problems, different drugs, stress, lack of food or sleep...and they impact different areas of the brain in different ways depending on these things. Perhaps more dominant areas of the brain are more active and more likely to be influenced by a hallucination, but I'm not convinced that's the case.

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

Do you have any references please?

[iNow]

Nothing specific, no. You probably want to learn more about causes and types of hallucinations, though. Searching that phrase should help.