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Effects of a novel, brief psychological therapy (Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences) for hallucinations in first episode psychosis (MUSE FEP): findings from an exploratory randomised controlled trial. (2024)
Journal Article
Dudley, R., Dodgson, G., Common, S., Ogundimu, E., Liley, J., O’Grady, L., …Aynsworth, C. (2024). Effects of a novel, brief psychological therapy (Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences) for hallucinations in first episode psychosis (MUSE FEP): findings from an exploratory randomised controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 174, 289-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.04.031

Hallucinations are a common feature of psychosis, yet access to effective psychological treatment is limited. The Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences for First-Episode-Psychosis (MUSE-FEP) trial aimed to establish the feasibility and acceptability o... Read More about Effects of a novel, brief psychological therapy (Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences) for hallucinations in first episode psychosis (MUSE FEP): findings from an exploratory randomised controlled trial..

The experience of felt presence in a general population sample. (2024)
Journal Article
Brederoo, S. G., Alderson-Day, B., de Boer, J. N., Linszen, M. M. J., & Sommer, I. E. C. (2024). The experience of felt presence in a general population sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 224(4), 119-121. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2024.7

Felt presence is a widely occurring experience, but remains under-recognised in clinical and research practice. To contribute to a wider recognition of the phenomenon, we aimed to assess the presentation of felt presence in a large population sample... Read More about The experience of felt presence in a general population sample..

What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective (2023)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., & Pearson, A. (2023). What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective. Cortex, 168, 193-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.008

Inner speech refers to the experience of talking to oneself in one's head. While notoriously challenging to investigate, it has also been central to a range of questions concerning mind, brain, and behaviour. Posited as a key component in executive f... Read More about What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective.

The felt-presence experience: from cognition to the clinic (2023)
Journal Article
Barnby, J. M., Park, S., Baxter, T., Rosen, C., Brugger, P., & Alderson-Day, B. (2023). The felt-presence experience: from cognition to the clinic. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10(5), 352-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366%2823%2900034-2

The felt presence experience is the basic feeling that someone else is present in the immediate environment, without clear sensory evidence. Ranging from benevolent to distressing, personified to ambiguous, felt presence has been observed in neurolog... Read More about The felt-presence experience: from cognition to the clinic.

Prevalence and nature of multi-sensory and multi-modal hallucinations in people with first episode psychosis (2022)
Journal Article
Dudley, R., Watson, F., O'Grady, L., Aynsworth, C., Dodgson, G., Common, S., …Fernyhough, C. (2023). Prevalence and nature of multi-sensory and multi-modal hallucinations in people with first episode psychosis. Psychiatry Research, 319(2023), Article 114988. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114988

Hallucinations can occur in single or multiple sensory modalities. This study explored how common these experiences were in people with first episode of psychosis (n = 82). Particular attention was paid to the number of modalities reported and whethe... Read More about Prevalence and nature of multi-sensory and multi-modal hallucinations in people with first episode psychosis.

Voice-hearing across the continuum: a phenomenology of spiritual voices (2022)
Journal Article
Moseley, P., Powell, A., Woods, A., Fernyhough, C., & Alderson-Day, B. (2022). Voice-hearing across the continuum: a phenomenology of spiritual voices. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 48(5), 1066-1074. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbac054

Background and Hypothesis: Voice-hearing in clinical and nonclinical groups has previously been compared using standardized assessments of psychotic experiences. Findings from several studies suggest that nonclinical voice-hearing is distinguished by... Read More about Voice-hearing across the continuum: a phenomenology of spiritual voices.

Hallucinations as a risk marker for suicidal behaviour in individuals with a history of sexual assault: a general population study with instant replication (2022)
Journal Article
Yates, K., Lång, U., Peters, E. M., Wigman, J. T., Boyda, D., McNicholas, F., …Kelleher, I. (2023). Hallucinations as a risk marker for suicidal behaviour in individuals with a history of sexual assault: a general population study with instant replication. Psychological Medicine, 53(10), 4627-4633. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291722001532

Background Research has shown a strong relationship between hallucinations and suicidal behaviour in general population samples. Whether hallucinations also index suicidal behaviour risk in groups at elevated risk of suicidal behaviour, namely in ind... Read More about Hallucinations as a risk marker for suicidal behaviour in individuals with a history of sexual assault: a general population study with instant replication.

Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences in People with First-Episode Psychosis (MUSE FEP): a study protocol for a single-blind parallel-group randomised controlled feasibility trial (2022)
Journal Article
Dudley, R., Dodgson, G., Common, S., O'Grady, L., Watson, F., Gibbs, C., …Aynsworth, C. (2022). Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences in People with First-Episode Psychosis (MUSE FEP): a study protocol for a single-blind parallel-group randomised controlled feasibility trial. BMJ Open, 12(5), Article e061827. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061827

Introduction Hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that others do not) are a common feature of psychosis, causing significant distress and disability. Existing treatments such as cognitive–behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) have modest benef... Read More about Managing Unusual Sensory Experiences in People with First-Episode Psychosis (MUSE FEP): a study protocol for a single-blind parallel-group randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Varieties of felt presence? Three surveys of presence phenomena and their relations to psychopathology (2022)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Moseley, P., Mitrenga, K., Moffatt, J., Lee, R., Foxwell, J., …Fernyhough, C. (2023). Varieties of felt presence? Three surveys of presence phenomena and their relations to psychopathology. Psychological Medicine, 53(8), 3692-3700. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291722000344

Background Experiences of felt presence (FP) are well documented in neurology, neuropsychology and bereavement research, but systematic research in relation to psychopathology is limited. FP is a feature of sensorimotor disruption in psychosis, hypna... Read More about Varieties of felt presence? Three surveys of presence phenomena and their relations to psychopathology.

Susceptibility to auditory hallucinations is associated with spontaneous but not directed modulation of top-down expectations for speech (2022)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Moffatt, J., Lima, C. F., Krishnan, S., Fernyhough, C., Scott, S. K., …Evans, S. (2022). Susceptibility to auditory hallucinations is associated with spontaneous but not directed modulation of top-down expectations for speech. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2022(1), Article niac002. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niac002

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs)—or hearing voices—occur in clinical and non-clinical populations, but their mechanisms remain unclear. Predictive processing models of psychosis have proposed that hallucinations arise from an over-weighting of p... Read More about Susceptibility to auditory hallucinations is associated with spontaneous but not directed modulation of top-down expectations for speech.

“Figuring out how to be normal”: Exploring how young people and parents make sense of voice‐hearing in the family context (2022)
Journal Article
Mayer, C., Dodgson, G., Woods, A., & Alderson‐Day, B. (2022). “Figuring out how to be normal”: Exploring how young people and parents make sense of voice‐hearing in the family context. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 95(2), 600-614. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12381

Objectives Making sense of voice-hearing—exploring the purpose, cause, and relationship with voices—is seen as therapeutically valuable for adults, but there is a paucity of research with adolescents. Family intervention is recommended for young peop... Read More about “Figuring out how to be normal”: Exploring how young people and parents make sense of voice‐hearing in the family context.

Continuities and Discontinuities in the Cognitive Mechanisms Associated With Clinical and Nonclinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (2022)
Journal Article
Moseley, P., Alderson-Day, B., Common, S., Dodgson, G., Lee, R., Mitrenga, K., …Fernyhough, C. (2022). Continuities and Discontinuities in the Cognitive Mechanisms Associated With Clinical and Nonclinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Clinical Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026211059802

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are typically associated with schizophrenia but also occur in individuals without any need for care (nonclinical voice hearers [NCVHs]). Cognitive models of AVHs posit potential biases in source monitoring, top-d... Read More about Continuities and Discontinuities in the Cognitive Mechanisms Associated With Clinical and Nonclinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations.

Thinking about hallucinations: why philosophy matters (2021)
Journal Article
Wilkinson, S., Green, H., Hare, S., Houlders, J., Humpston, C., & Alderson-Day, B. (2022). Thinking about hallucinations: why philosophy matters. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 27(2-3), 219-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2021.2007067

Hallucinations research is increasingly incorporating philosophy or the work of philosophically trained individuals. We present three different ways in which this is successfully implemented to the enhancement of knowledge and understanding of halluc... Read More about Thinking about hallucinations: why philosophy matters.

Measurement practices in hallucinations research (2021)
Journal Article
Smailes, D., Alderson-Day, B., Hazell, C., Wright, A., & Moseley, P. (2022). Measurement practices in hallucinations research. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 27(2-3), 183-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2021.1999224

In several sub-fields of psychology, there has been a renewed focus on measurement practices. As far as we are aware, this has been absent in hallucinations research. Thus, we investigated (a) cross-study variation in how hallucinatory experiences ar... Read More about Measurement practices in hallucinations research.

Managing unusual sensory experiences: A feasibility trial in an At Risk Mental States for psychosis group (2020)
Journal Article
Dodgson, G., Aynsworth, C., Mitrenga, K. J., Gibbs, C., Patton, V., Fernyhough, C., …Common, S. (2021). Managing unusual sensory experiences: A feasibility trial in an At Risk Mental States for psychosis group. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 94(3), 481 - 503. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12323

Objectives To conduct a feasibility study on a new, tablet-delivered treatment for unusual sensory experiences in service-users with an At Risk Mental States for psychosis. Design A mixed method design was employed, using content analysis to investig... Read More about Managing unusual sensory experiences: A feasibility trial in an At Risk Mental States for psychosis group.

Cognitive and phenomenological characteristics of hallucination-proneness across the lifespan (2020)
Journal Article
Thompson, R., Hallas, L., Moseley, P., & Alderson-Day, B. (2021). Cognitive and phenomenological characteristics of hallucination-proneness across the lifespan. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 26(1), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2020.1850435

The impact of age on hallucination-proneness within healthy adult cohorts and its relation to underlying cognitive mechanisms is underexplored. Based on previously researched trends in relation to cognitive ageing, we hypothesised that older and youn... Read More about Cognitive and phenomenological characteristics of hallucination-proneness across the lifespan.

A linguistic approach to the psychosis continuum: (dis)similarities and (dis)continuities in how clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers talk about their voices (2020)
Journal Article
Collins, L. C., Semino, E., Demjén, Z., Hardie, A., Moseley, P., Woods, A., & Alderson-Day, B. (2020). A linguistic approach to the psychosis continuum: (dis)similarities and (dis)continuities in how clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers talk about their voices. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 25(6), 447-465. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2020.1842727

Introduction: “Continuum” approaches to psychosis have generated reports of similarities and differences in voice-hearing in clinical and non-clinical populations at the cohort level, but not typically examined overlap or degrees of difference betwee... Read More about A linguistic approach to the psychosis continuum: (dis)similarities and (dis)continuities in how clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers talk about their voices.

Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing using a novel tabletised manual: a feasibility study (2020)
Journal Article
Dodgson, G., Alderson-Day, B., Smailes, D., Ryles, F., Mayer, C., Glen-Davison, J., …Fernyhough, C. (2021). Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing using a novel tabletised manual: a feasibility study. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 49(3), 287-301. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1352465820000661

Background: Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is a recommended treatment for psychotic experiences, but its effectiveness has been questioned. One way of addressing this may be to tailor therapy materials to the phenomenology of spec... Read More about Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing using a novel tabletised manual: a feasibility study.

Inner experience differs in rumination and distraction without a change in electromyographical correlates of inner speech (2020)
Journal Article
Moffatt, J., Mitrenga, K. J., Alderson-Day, B., Moseley, P., & Fernyhough, C. (2020). Inner experience differs in rumination and distraction without a change in electromyographical correlates of inner speech. PLoS ONE, 15(9), Article e0238920. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238920

Ruminative thought is a style of thinking which involves repetitively focusing upon one’s own negative mood, its causes and its consequences. The negative effects of rumination are well-documented, but comparatively little is known about how ruminati... Read More about Inner experience differs in rumination and distraction without a change in electromyographical correlates of inner speech.

Processing Speech and Thoughts during Silent Reading: Direct Reference Effects for Speech by Fictional Characters in Voice-Selective Auditory Cortex and a Theory-of-Mind Network (2020)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Moffatt, J., Bernini, M., Mitrenga, K., Yao, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2020). Processing Speech and Thoughts during Silent Reading: Direct Reference Effects for Speech by Fictional Characters in Voice-Selective Auditory Cortex and a Theory-of-Mind Network. The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32(9), 1637-1653. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01571

Stories transport readers into vivid imaginative worlds, but understanding how readers create such worlds—populating them with characters, objects, and events—presents serious challenges across disciplines. Auditory imagery is thought to play a promi... Read More about Processing Speech and Thoughts during Silent Reading: Direct Reference Effects for Speech by Fictional Characters in Voice-Selective Auditory Cortex and a Theory-of-Mind Network.

Voice-Hearing and Personification: Characterizing Social Qualities of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Early Psychosis (2020)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Woods, A., Moseley, P., Dodgson, G., Deamer, F., Common, S., & Fernyhough, C. (2021). Voice-Hearing and Personification: Characterizing Social Qualities of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Early Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 47(1), 228-236. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa095

Recent therapeutic approaches to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) exploit the person-like qualities of voices. Little is known, however, about how, why, and when AVH become personified. We aimed to investigate personification in individuals’ earl... Read More about Voice-Hearing and Personification: Characterizing Social Qualities of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Early Psychosis.

Modeling perception and behavior in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: Support for the predictive processing framework (2020)
Journal Article
Kafadar, E., Mittal, V. A., Strauss, G. P., Chapman, H. C., Ellman, L. M., Bansal, S., …Powers, A. R. (2020). Modeling perception and behavior in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: Support for the predictive processing framework. Schizophrenia Research, 226, 167-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.04.017

Early intervention in psychotic spectrum disorders is critical for maximizing key clinical outcomes. While there is some evidence for the utility of intervention during the prodromal phase of the illness, efficacy of interventions is difficult to ass... Read More about Modeling perception and behavior in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: Support for the predictive processing framework.

‘I’ve learned I need to treat my characters like people’: Varieties of agency and interaction in Writers’ experiences of their Characters’ Voices (2020)
Journal Article
Foxwell, J., Alderson-Day, B., Fernyhough, C., & Woods, A. (2020). ‘I’ve learned I need to treat my characters like people’: Varieties of agency and interaction in Writers’ experiences of their Characters’ Voices. Consciousness and Cognition, 79, Article 102901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.102901

Writers often report vivid experiences of hearing characters talking to them, talking back to them, and exhibiting independence and autonomy. However, systematic empirical studies of this phenomenon are almost non-existent, and as a result little is... Read More about ‘I’ve learned I need to treat my characters like people’: Varieties of agency and interaction in Writers’ experiences of their Characters’ Voices.

Reading characters in voices: Ratings of personality characteristics from voices predict proneness to auditory verbal hallucinations (2019)
Journal Article
Mitrenga, K. J., Alderson-Day, B., May, L., Moffatt, J., Moseley, P., & Fernyhough, C. (2019). Reading characters in voices: Ratings of personality characteristics from voices predict proneness to auditory verbal hallucinations. PLoS ONE, 14(8), Article e0221127. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221127

People rapidly make first impressions of others, often based on very little information–minimal exposure to faces or voices is sufficient for humans to make up their mind about personality of others. While there has been considerable research on voic... Read More about Reading characters in voices: Ratings of personality characteristics from voices predict proneness to auditory verbal hallucinations.

Imaginary companions, inner speech and auditory verbal hallucinations: What are the relations? (2019)
Journal Article
Fernyhough, C., Watson, A., Bernini, M., Moseley, P., & Alderson-Day, B. (2019). Imaginary companions, inner speech and auditory verbal hallucinations: What are the relations?. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1665. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01665

Interacting with imaginary companions (ICs) is now considered a natural part of childhood for many children, and has been associated with a range of positive developmental outcomes. Recent research has explored how the phenomenon of ICs in childhood... Read More about Imaginary companions, inner speech and auditory verbal hallucinations: What are the relations?.

The auditory‐verbal hallucinations of Welsh–English bilingual people (2019)
Journal Article
Hadden, L. M., Alderson‐Day, B., Jackson, M., Fernyhough, C., & Bentall, R. P. (2020). The auditory‐verbal hallucinations of Welsh–English bilingual people. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 93(1), 122-133. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12234

Objectives: Psychological models of voice‐hearing propose that auditory‐verbal hallucinations occur when inner speech is attributed to a source external to the self. Approximately half of the world's population is multilingual, and the extent to whic... Read More about The auditory‐verbal hallucinations of Welsh–English bilingual people.

Potential Applications of Digital Technology in Assessment, Treatment, and Self-help for Hallucinations (2019)
Journal Article
Thomas, N., Bless, J. J., Alderson-Day, B., Bell, I. H., Cella, M., Craig, T., …Jardri, R. (2019). Potential Applications of Digital Technology in Assessment, Treatment, and Self-help for Hallucinations. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 45(Supplement_1), S32-S42. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sby103

The field of digital mental health is rapidly expanding with digital tools being used in assessment, intervention, and supporting self-help. The application of digital mental health to hallucinations is, however, at a very early stage. This report fr... Read More about Potential Applications of Digital Technology in Assessment, Treatment, and Self-help for Hallucinations.

Beyond Trauma: A Multiple Pathways Approach to Auditory Hallucinations in Clinical and Nonclinical Populations (2019)
Journal Article
Luhrmann, T. M., Alderson-Day, B., Bell, V., Bless, J. J., Corlett, P., Hugdahl, K., …Waters, F. (2019). Beyond Trauma: A Multiple Pathways Approach to Auditory Hallucinations in Clinical and Nonclinical Populations. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 45(Supplement_1), S24-S31. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sby110

That trauma can play a significant role in the onset and maintenance of voice-hearing is one of the most striking and important developments in the recent study of psychosis. Yet the finding that trauma increases the risk for hallucination and for ps... Read More about Beyond Trauma: A Multiple Pathways Approach to Auditory Hallucinations in Clinical and Nonclinical Populations.

Intentional inhibition but not source memory is related to hallucination-proneness and intrusive thoughts in a university sample (2019)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Smailes, D., Moffatt, J., Mitrenga, K., Moseley, P., & Fernyhough, C. (2019). Intentional inhibition but not source memory is related to hallucination-proneness and intrusive thoughts in a university sample. Cortex, 113, 267-278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.12.020

Proneness to unusual perceptual states – such as auditory or visual hallucinations – has been proposed to exist on a continuum in the general population, but whether there is a cognitive basis for such a continuum remains unclear. Intentional cogniti... Read More about Intentional inhibition but not source memory is related to hallucination-proneness and intrusive thoughts in a university sample.

Musical hallucinations, musical imagery, and earworms: A new phenomenological survey (2018)
Journal Article
Moseley, P., Alderson-Day, B., Kumar, S., & Fernyhough, C. (2018). Musical hallucinations, musical imagery, and earworms: A new phenomenological survey. Consciousness and Cognition, 65, 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.07.009

Musical hallucinations (MH) account for a significant proportion of auditory hallucinations, but there is a relative lack of research into their phenomenology. In contrast, much research has focused on other forms of internally generated musical expe... Read More about Musical hallucinations, musical imagery, and earworms: A new phenomenological survey.

The varieties of inner speech questionnaire – Revised (VISQ-R): Replicating and refining links between inner speech and psychopathology (2018)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Mitrenga, K., Wilkinson, S., McCarthy-Jones, S., & Fernyhough, C. (2018). The varieties of inner speech questionnaire – Revised (VISQ-R): Replicating and refining links between inner speech and psychopathology. Consciousness and Cognition, 65, 48-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.07.001

Inner speech is a common experience for many but hard to measure empirically. The Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ) has been used to link everyday phenomenology of inner speech – such as inner dialogue – to various psychopathological tra... Read More about The varieties of inner speech questionnaire – Revised (VISQ-R): Replicating and refining links between inner speech and psychopathology.

Distinct Processing of Ambiguous Speech in People with Non-Clinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (2017)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Lima, C., Evans, S., Krishnan, S., Shanmugalingam, P., Fernyhough, C., & Scott, S. (2017). Distinct Processing of Ambiguous Speech in People with Non-Clinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Brain, 140(9), 2475-2489. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx206

Auditory verbal hallucinations (hearing voices) are typically associated with psychosis, but a minority of the general population also experience them frequently and without distress. Such ‘non-clinical’ experiences offer a rare and unique opportunit... Read More about Distinct Processing of Ambiguous Speech in People with Non-Clinical Auditory Verbal Hallucinations.

Uncharted features and dynamics of reading: Voices, characters, and crossing of experiences (2017)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Bernini, M., & Fernyhough, C. (2017). Uncharted features and dynamics of reading: Voices, characters, and crossing of experiences. Consciousness and Cognition, 49, 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.01.003

Readers often describe vivid experiences of voices and characters in a manner that has been likened to hallucination. Little is known, however, of how common such experiences are, nor the individual differences they may reflect. Here we present the r... Read More about Uncharted features and dynamics of reading: Voices, characters, and crossing of experiences.

Can inner experience be apprehended in high fidelity? Examining brain activation and experience from multiple perspectives (2017)
Journal Article
Hurlburt, R., Alderson-Day, B., Fernyhough, C., & Kühn, S. (2017). Can inner experience be apprehended in high fidelity? Examining brain activation and experience from multiple perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 43. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00043

We discuss the historical context for explorations of “pristine inner experience,” attempts to apprehend and describe the inner experiences that directly present themselves in natural environments. There is no generally accepted method for determinin... Read More about Can inner experience be apprehended in high fidelity? Examining brain activation and experience from multiple perspectives.

Testing continuum models of psychosis: No reduction in source monitoring ability in healthy individuals prone to auditory hallucinations (2016)
Journal Article
Garrison, J., Moseley, P., Alderson-Day, B., Smailes, D., Fernyhough, C., & Simons, J. (2017). Testing continuum models of psychosis: No reduction in source monitoring ability in healthy individuals prone to auditory hallucinations. Cortex, 91, 197-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.11.011

People with schizophrenia who hallucinate show impairments in reality monitoring (the ability to distinguish internally generated information from information obtained from external sources) compared to non-hallucinating patients and healthy individu... Read More about Testing continuum models of psychosis: No reduction in source monitoring ability in healthy individuals prone to auditory hallucinations.

Auditory Hallucinations and the Brain’s Resting-State Networks: Findings and Methodological Observations (2016)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Diederen, K., Fernyhough, C., Ford, J. M., Horga, G., Margulies, D. S., …Jardri, R. (2016). Auditory Hallucinations and the Brain’s Resting-State Networks: Findings and Methodological Observations. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 42(5), 1110-1123. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbw078

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the potential for alterations to the brain’s resting-state networks (RSNs) to explain various kinds of psychopathology. RSNs provide an intriguing new explanatory framework for hallucinations, wh... Read More about Auditory Hallucinations and the Brain’s Resting-State Networks: Findings and Methodological Observations.

Exploring the Ecological Validity of Thinking on Demand: Neural Correlates of Elicited vs. Spontaneously Occurring Inner Speech (2016)
Journal Article
Hurlburt, R. T., Alderson-Day, B., Kühn, S., & Fernyhough, C. (2016). Exploring the Ecological Validity of Thinking on Demand: Neural Correlates of Elicited vs. Spontaneously Occurring Inner Speech. PLoS ONE, 11(2), Article e0147932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147932

Psychology and cognitive neuroscience often use standardized tasks to elicit particular experiences. We explore whether elicited experiences are similar to spontaneous experiences. In an MRI scanner, five participants performed tasks designed to elic... Read More about Exploring the Ecological Validity of Thinking on Demand: Neural Correlates of Elicited vs. Spontaneously Occurring Inner Speech.

Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: New Techniques and Future Directions (2016)
Journal Article
Moseley, P., Alderson-Day, B., Ellison, A., Jardri, R., & Fernyhough, C. (2016). Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: New Techniques and Future Directions. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9, Article 515. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2015.00515

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are the experience of hearing a voice in the absence of any speaker. Results from recent attempts to treat AVHs with neurostimulation (rTMS or tDCS) to the left temporoparietal junction have not been conclusive,... Read More about Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: New Techniques and Future Directions.

Auditory verbal hallucinations: Social, but how? (2016)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2016). Auditory verbal hallucinations: Social, but how?. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23(7-8), 163-194

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are experiences of hearing voices in the absence of an external speaker. Standard explanatory models propose that AVH arise from misattributed verbal cognitions (i.e. inner speech), but provide little account of h... Read More about Auditory verbal hallucinations: Social, but how?.

Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing (2015)
Journal Article
Smailes, D., Alderson-Day, B., Fernyhough, C., McCarthy-Jones, S., & Dodgson, G. (2015). Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1933. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01933

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for voice-hearing (i.e., auditory verbal hallucinations; AVH) has, at best, small-to-moderate effects. One possible reason for this limited efficacy is that current CBT approaches tend to conceptualise voice-hearin... Read More about Tailoring cognitive behavioural therapy to subtypes of voice-hearing.

Voices and Thoughts in Psychosis: An Introduction (2015)
Journal Article
Wilkinson, S., & Alderson-Day, B. (2016). Voices and Thoughts in Psychosis: An Introduction. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 7(3), 529-540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-015-0288-6

In this introduction we present the orthodox account of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), a number of worries for this account, and some potential responses open to its proponents. With some problems still remaining, we then introduce the proble... Read More about Voices and Thoughts in Psychosis: An Introduction.

What goes on in the resting state? A qualitative glimpse into resting-state experience in the scanner (2015)
Journal Article
Hurlburt, R., Alderson-Day, B., Fernyhough, C., & Kühn, S. (2015). What goes on in the resting state? A qualitative glimpse into resting-state experience in the scanner. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1535. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01535

The brain’s resting-state has attracted considerable interest in recent years, but currently little is known either about typical experience during the resting-state or about whether there are inter-individual differences in resting-state phenomenolo... Read More about What goes on in the resting state? A qualitative glimpse into resting-state experience in the scanner.

Imaginary companions in childhood: Relations to imagination skills and autobiographical memory in adults (2015)
Journal Article
Firth, L., Alderson-Day, B., Woods, N., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Imaginary companions in childhood: Relations to imagination skills and autobiographical memory in adults. Creativity Research Journal, 27(4), 308-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2015.1087240

The presence of a childhood imaginary companion (IC) has been proposed to reflect heightened imaginative abilities. This study hypothesized that adults who reported having a childhood IC would score higher on a task requiring the imaginative construc... Read More about Imaginary companions in childhood: Relations to imagination skills and autobiographical memory in adults.

The brain’s conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech (2015)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., Weis, S., McCarthy-Jones, S., Moseley, P., Smailes, D., & Fernyhough, C. (2016). The brain’s conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(1), 110-120. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv094

Inner speech has been implicated in important aspects of normal and atypical cognition, including the development of auditory hallucinations. Studies to date have focused on covert speech elicited by simple word or sentence repetition, while ignoring... Read More about The brain’s conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech.

Inner speech: Development, cognitive functions, phenomenology, and neurobiology (2015)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Inner speech: Development, cognitive functions, phenomenology, and neurobiology. Psychological Bulletin, 141(5), 931-965. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000021

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, a... Read More about Inner speech: Development, cognitive functions, phenomenology, and neurobiology.

Hearing voices in the resting brain: A review of intrinsic functional connectivity research on auditory verbal hallucinations (2015)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., McCarthy-Jones, S., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Hearing voices in the resting brain: A review of intrinsic functional connectivity research on auditory verbal hallucinations. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 55, 78-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.016

Resting state networks (RSNs) are thought to reflect the intrinsic functional connectivity of brain regions. Alterations to RSNs have been proposed to underpin various kinds of psychopathology, including the occurrence of auditory verbal hallucinatio... Read More about Hearing voices in the resting brain: A review of intrinsic functional connectivity research on auditory verbal hallucinations.

Relations among questionnaire and experience sampling measures of inner speech: a smartphone app study (2015)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Relations among questionnaire and experience sampling measures of inner speech: a smartphone app study. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 517. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00517

Inner speech is often reported to be a common and central part of inner experience, but its true prevalence is unclear. Many questionnaire-based measures appear to lack convergent validity and it has been claimed that they overestimate inner speech i... Read More about Relations among questionnaire and experience sampling measures of inner speech: a smartphone app study.

Experiences of hearing voices: analysis of a novel phenomenological survey (2015)
Journal Article
Woods, A., Jones, N., Alderson-Day, B., Callard, F., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Experiences of hearing voices: analysis of a novel phenomenological survey. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(4), 323-331. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366%2815%2900006-1

Background: Auditory hallucinations—or voices—are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders and are also experienced by individuals with no psychiatric history. Understanding of the variation in subjective experiences of hallucination is central... Read More about Experiences of hearing voices: analysis of a novel phenomenological survey.

Inner experience in the scanner: Can high fidelity apprehensions of inner experience be integrated with fMRI? (2014)
Journal Article
Kühn, S., Fernyhough, C., Alderson-Day, B., & Hurlburt, R. (2014). Inner experience in the scanner: Can high fidelity apprehensions of inner experience be integrated with fMRI?. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01393

To provide full accounts of human experience and behavior, research in cognitive neuroscience must be linked to inner experience, but introspective reports of inner experience have often been found to be unreliable. The present case study aimed at pr... Read More about Inner experience in the scanner: Can high fidelity apprehensions of inner experience be integrated with fMRI?.

Verbal Problem-Solving Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Atypical Language Development (2014)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B. (2014). Verbal Problem-Solving Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Atypical Language Development. Autism Research, 7(6), 720-730. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1424

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing (TD) peers on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a measure of verbal problem-solving skills. Although problems with the TQT are typically associate... Read More about Verbal Problem-Solving Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Atypical Language Development.

Shot through with voices: Dissociation mediates the relationship between varieties of inner speech and auditory hallucination proneness (2014)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., McCarthy-Jones, S., Bedford, S., Collins, H., Dunne, H., Rooke, C., & Fernyhough, C. (2014). Shot through with voices: Dissociation mediates the relationship between varieties of inner speech and auditory hallucination proneness. Consciousness and Cognition, 27, 288-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2014.05.010

Inner speech is a commonly experienced but poorly understood phenomenon. The Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ; McCarthy-Jones & Fernyhough, 2011) assesses four characteristics of inner speech: dialogicality, evaluative/motivational conte... Read More about Shot through with voices: Dissociation mediates the relationship between varieties of inner speech and auditory hallucination proneness.

Auditory verbal hallucinations in persons with and without a need for care (2014)
Journal Article
Johns, L., Kompus, K., Connell, M., Humpston, C., Lincoln, T., Longden, E., …Larøi, F. (2014). Auditory verbal hallucinations in persons with and without a need for care. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 40(Suppl 4), S255-S264. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbu005

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 artic... Read More about Auditory verbal hallucinations in persons with and without a need for care.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Phenomenology of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (2014)
Journal Article
Woods, A., Jones, N., Bernini, M., Callard, F., Alderson-Day, B., Badcock, J., …Fernyhough, C. (2014). Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Phenomenology of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 40(Suppl 4), S246-S254. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbu003

Despite the recent proliferation of scientific, clinical, and narrative accounts of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), the phenomenology of voice hearing remains opaque and undertheorized. In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary approach... Read More about Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Phenomenology of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations.

Profound Expressive Language Impairment in Low Functioning Children with Autism: An Investigation of Syntactic Awareness Using a Computerised Learning Task (2013)
Journal Article
McGonigle-Chalmers, M., Alderson-Day, B., Fleming, J., & Monsen, K. (2013). Profound Expressive Language Impairment in Low Functioning Children with Autism: An Investigation of Syntactic Awareness Using a Computerised Learning Task. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(9), 2062-2081. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1753-z

Gamma activation in young people with autism spectrum disorders and typically-developing controls when viewing emotions on faces (2012)
Journal Article
Wright, B., Alderson-Day, B., Prendergast, G., Bennett, S., Jordan, J., Whitton, C., …Green, G. (2012). Gamma activation in young people with autism spectrum disorders and typically-developing controls when viewing emotions on faces. PLoS ONE, 7(7), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041326

Background: Behavioural studies have highlighted irregularities in recognition of facial affect in children and young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Recent findings from studies utilising electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencepha... Read More about Gamma activation in young people with autism spectrum disorders and typically-developing controls when viewing emotions on faces.

A comparison of urinary mercury between children with autism spectrum disorders and control children (2012)
Journal Article
Wright, B., Pearce, H., Allgar, V., Miles, J., Whitton, C., Leon, I., …Alderson-Day, B. (2012). A comparison of urinary mercury between children with autism spectrum disorders and control children. PLoS ONE, 7(2), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029547

Background: Urinary mercury concentrations are used in research exploring mercury exposure. Some theorists have proposed that autism is caused by mercury toxicity. We set out to test whether mercury concentrations in the urine of children with autism... Read More about A comparison of urinary mercury between children with autism spectrum disorders and control children.

Melatonin versus placebo in children with autism spectrum conditions and severe sleep problems not amenable to behaviour management strategies: A Randomised Controlled Crossover Trial (2011)
Journal Article
Wright, B., Sims, D., Smart, S., Alwazeer, A., Alderson-Day, B., Allgar, V., …Miles, J. (2011). Melatonin versus placebo in children with autism spectrum conditions and severe sleep problems not amenable to behaviour management strategies: A Randomised Controlled Crossover Trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(2), 175-184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1036-5