Predictive Coding and Unusual Experiences

The purpose of this research study to find out more about how our expectations influence what we see and hear. This study examines how different parts of our brains interact when we expect to see or hear certain sights and sounds. You are invited to participate in this study because you belong to one of three groups of people:

1. people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorder;
2. people who experience auditory hallucinations, or have unusual beliefs, but have not been diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorder; and
3. individuals who do not experiencing auditory hallucinations.

The goal of this study is to better understand how problems balancing our prior beliefs and new information may result in a range of unusual experiences and beliefs. Recent research has suggested that our expectations color everything we do—how we interact, how we make decisions, and even how we see and hear things around us. This study examines how expectations influence what we see and hear using computer games that present sights and sounds and ask players to report what they see and hear. The study will also look at the activity in specific brain regions, when we expect stimuli and events. Finally, this study examines the idea that an imbalance between prior beliefs and new sensory information may lead to unusual perceptual experiences and lead to unusual beliefs. We plan to examine this question both in people who have these symptoms and seek psychiatric care to help them cope with these experiences, as well as people who have similar experiences but do not seek care.