Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30627670›Full record

ArticleComputational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.)2018

Active Inference and Auditory Hallucinations.

David Benrimoh, Thomas Parr, Peter Vincent, Rick A Adams, Karl Friston

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
36citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

36 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. The role of affective states in computational psychiatry.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Hierarchical inference as a source of human biases.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2023
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Modelling mood updating: a proof of principle study.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2023
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. GABANeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

David BenrimohWellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
Thomas ParrWellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
Peter VincentWellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
Rick A AdamsDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK.
Karl FristonWellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are often distressing symptoms of several neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia. Using a Markov decision process formulation of active inference, we develop a novel model of AVH as false (positive) inference. Active inference treats perception as a process of hypothesis testing, in which sensory data are used to disambiguate between alternative hypotheses about the world. Crucially, this depends upon a delicate balance between prior beliefs about unobserved (hidden) variables and the sensations they cause. A false inference that a voice is present, even in the absence of auditory sensations, suggests that prior beliefs dominate perceptual inference. Here we consider the computational mechanisms that could cause this imbalance in perception. Through simulation, we show that the content of (and confidence in) prior beliefs depends on beliefs about policies (here sequences of listening and talking) and on beliefs about the reliability of sensory data. We demonstrate several ways in which hallucinatory percepts could occur when an agent expects to hear a voice in the presence of imprecise sensory data. This model expresses, in formal terms, alternative computational mechanisms that underwrite AVH and, speculatively, can be mapped onto neurobiological changes associated with schizophrenia. The interaction of action and perception is important in modeling AVH, given that speech is a fundamentally enactive and interactive process-and that hallucinators often actively engage with their voices.

Indexed as

active inferenceBayesianhallucinationspsychosisschizophrenia

Identifiers

PMID30627670
PMCPMC6317754

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.