Background and objectives

The cognitive model of voices suggests that negative appraisals of hallucinatory experiences result in responses, such as rumination, which maintain voice-hearing. Our principal aim was to investigate the effect of rumination on the frequency of voice-hearing.

Methods

A two-group randomised experimental design was employed using a non-clinical sample. A total of 106 participants completed baseline measures of trait rumination, hallucination-proneness, mood and state negative affect, and were presented with a voice-hearing paradigm. False feedback designed to cause a negative interpretation of auditory intrusions was provided and participants were randomly allocated to either a distraction or rumination condition. Participants performed the auditory task for a second time, and the total number of false alarms and distress scores were compared between groups.

Results

A Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the manipulation of rumination was successful (p = 0.007). We did not detect a statistically significant difference between the distraction and rumination groups for total false alarms (p = 0.282) or distress (p = 0.387) scores.

Limitations

Findings largely relate to a female undergraduate psychology sample.

Conclusion

Results of this non-clinical study do not support the hypothesis that rumination leads to an increase in the frequency of voice-hearing on a laboratory task.

中文翻译：

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沉思和分心对幻听体验的影响：模拟实验研究。

背景和目标

声音的认知模型表明，对幻觉体验的负面评价会导致反应，例如沉思，从而维持声音听力。我们的主要目的是研究沉思对听觉频率的影响。

方法

使用非临床样本采用两组随机实验设计。共有 106 名参与者完成了对特质反刍、幻觉倾向、情绪和状态负面影响的基线测量，并获得了语音听力范式。提供旨在导致对听觉干扰的负面解释的错误反馈，参与者被随机分配到分心或沉思条件。参与者第二次执行听觉任务，并比较各组之间的误报总数和遇险分数。

结果

Mann-Whitney U检验表明反刍的操作是成功的（p = 0.007）。我们没有检测到分心组和沉思组在总误报 (p = 0.282) 或痛苦 (p = 0.387) 得分方面存在统计学上的显着差异。

限制

调查结果主要与女性本科心理学样本有关。

结论

这项非临床研究的结果不支持在实验室任务中沉思导致语音听力频率增加的假设。