The effects of varying information content and speaking aloud on auditory hallucinations

The aim of this study was to investigate why requiring hallucinating schizophrenic subjects to read aloud produces large reductions in reports of auditory hallucinations. In Expt 1 hallucinating subjects (N = 9) were required to sort cards quietly into one, two, four, 13 and 26 piles. It was shown that the large reductions in the reports of hallucinations produced by reading aloud could not be accounted for in terms of the information content of the task. In Expt 2 the subjects (N = 7) were required to place the cards into one or two piles quietly or whilst saying the colour of the card aloud. Sorting cards into two piles whilst saying the colour of the card produced the largest reductions in the reports of hallucinations. It was concluded that it was the requirement to make overt motor and verbal response that produced the large reductions in reports of auditory hallucinations in the reading-aloud task.