The British Journal of Psychiatry 144: 508-512 (1984)
© 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Cognitive vulnerability to auditory hallucination. Impaired perception of meaning
AB Heilbrun Jr and NA Blum
Forty-four psychiatric patients were separated into four groups on the
basis of presence/absence of hallucinations and reactive/process status.
Reactive hallucinators were found to be singularly impaired in two aspects
of cognitive processing: (1) tolerance of ambiguity; and (2) availability
of alternative meanings. The perceptual errors produced by premature
judgment and limited consideration of alternative meanings for
misperceptions are discussed as factors predisposing to auditory
hallucination.