Ben Alderson-Day | Durham University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ben Alderson-Day

Despite the recent proliferation of scientiic, clinical, and narrative accounts of auditory verba... more Despite the recent proliferation of scientiic, 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 to understanding hallucina- tory experiences which seeks to demonstrate the value of the humanities and social sciences to advancing knowl- edge in clinical research and practice. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenology of AVH utilizes rigorous and context-appropriate method- ologies to analyze a wider range of irst-person accounts of AVH at 3 contextual levels: (1) cultural, social, and historical; (2) experiential; and (3) biographical. We go on to show that there are signiicant potential beneits for voice hearers, clinicians, and researchers. These include (1) informing the development and reinement of subtypes of hallucinations within and across diagnostic categories; (2) “front-loading” research in cognitive neuroscience; and (3) suggesting new possibilities for therapeutic inter- vention. In conclusion, we argue that an interdisciplin- ary approach to the phenomenology of AVH can nourish the ethical core of scientiic enquiry by challenging its interpretive paradigms, and offer voice hearers richer, potentially more empowering ways to make sense of their experiences.

Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014

AVH also occur in individuals from the general population who have no identifiable psychiatric or... more AVH also occur in individuals from the general population who have no identifiable psychiatric or neurological diagnoses. This article reviews research on AVH in nonclinical individuals and provides a cross-disciplinary view of the clinical relevance of these experiences in defining the risk of mental illness and need for care. Prevalence rates of AVH vary according to measurement tool and indicate a continuum of experience in the general population. Cross-sectional comparisons of individuals with AVH with and without need for care reveal similarities in phenomenology and some underlying mechanisms but also highlight key differences in emotional valence of AVH, appraisals, and behavioral response. Longitudinal studies suggest that AVH are an antecedent of clinical disorders when combined with negative emotional states, specific cognitive difficulties and poor coping, plus family history of psychosis, and environmental exposures such as childhood adversity. However, their predictive value for specific psychiatric disorders is not entirely clear. The theoretical and clinical implications of the reviewed findings are discussed, together with directions for future research.

BMJ open, 2014

The 1 year prevalence of depression in adolescents is about 2%. Treatment with antidepressant med... more The 1 year prevalence of depression in adolescents is about 2%. Treatment with antidepressant medication is not recommended for initial treatment in young people due to concerns over high side effects, poor efficacy and addictive potential. Evidence suggests that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for depression and is currently one of the main treatment options recommended in adolescents. Given the affinity young people have with information technology they may be treated effectively, more widely and earlier in their illness evolution using computer-administered CBT (CCBT). Currently little is known about the clinical and resource implications of implementing CCBT within the National Health Service for adolescents with low mood/depression. We aim to establish the feasibility of running a fully powered randomised controlled trial (RCT). Adolescents aged 12-18 with low mood/depression, (scoring ≥20 on the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ)), will be approa...

Background Auditory hallucinations-or voices-are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders a... more 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 to psychiatry, yet systematic empirical research on the phenomenology of auditory hallucinations remains scarce. We aimed to record a detailed and diverse collection of experiences, in the words of the people who hear voices themselves.

To provide full accounts of human experience and behavior, research in cognitive neuroscience mus... more 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 providing proof of principle that introspection using one method, descriptive experience sampling (DES), can be reliably integrated with fMRI. A participant was trained in the DES method, followed by nine sessions of sampling within an MRI scanner. During moments where the DES interview revealed ongoing inner speaking, fMRI data reliably showed activation in classic speech processing areas including left inferior frontal gyrus. Further, the fMRI data validated the participant's DES observations of the experiential distinction between inner speaking and innerly hearing her own voice. These results highlight the precision and validity of the DES method as a technique of exploring inner experience and the utility of combining such methods with fMRI.

Resting state networks (RSNs) are thought to reflect the intrinsic functional connectivity of bra... more 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 hallucinations (AVH). This review outlines the main hypotheses linking AVH and the resting state, and assesses the evidence for alterations to intrinsic connectivity provided by studies of resting fMRI in AVH. The influence of hallucinations during data acquisition, medication confounds, and movement are also considered. Despite a large variety of analytic methods and designs being deployed, it is possible to conclude that resting connectivity in the left temporal lobe in general and left superior temporal gyrus in particular are disrupted in AVH. There is also preliminary evidence of atypical connectivity in the default mode network and its interaction with other RSNs. Recommendations for future research include the adoption of a common analysis protocol to allow for more overlapping datasets and replication of intrinsic functional connectivity alterations.

Inner speech is a commonly experienced but poorly understood phenomenon. The Varieties of Inner S... more 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 content, condensation, and the presence of other people. Prior findings have linked anxiety and proneness to auditory hallucinations (AH) to these types of inner speech. This study extends that work by examining how inner speech relates to self-esteem and dissociation, and their combined impact upon AH-proneness. 156 students completed the VISQ and measures of self-esteem, dissociation and AH-proneness. Correlational analyses indicated that evaluative inner speech and other people in inner speech were associated with lower self-esteem and greater frequency of dissociative experiences. Dissociation and VISQ scores, but not selfesteem, predicted AH-proneness. Structural equation modelling supported a mediating role for dissociation between specific components of inner speech (evaluative and other people) and AH-proneness. Implications for the development of ''hearing voices'' are discussed.

Inner speech is often reported to be a common and central part of inner experience, but its true ... more 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 in comparison to experience sampling methods (which involve collecting data at random timepoints). The present study compared self-reporting of inner speech collected via a general questionnaire and experience sampling, using data from a custom-made smartphone app (Inner Life). Fifty-one university students completed a generalized self-report measure of inner speech (the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire, VISQ) and responded to at least seven random alerts to report on incidences of inner speech over a 2-week period. Correlations and pairwise comparisons were used to compare generalized endorsements and randomly sampled scores for each VISQ subscale. Significant correlations were observed between general and randomly sampled measures for only two of the four VISQ subscales, and endorsements of inner speech with evaluative or motivational characteristics did not correlate at all across different measures. Endorsement of inner speech items was significantly lower for random sampling compared to generalized self-report, for all VISQ subscales. Exploratory analysis indicated that specific inner speech characteristics were also related to anxiety and future-oriented thinking.

Inner speech-also known as covert speech or verbal thinking-has been implicated in theories of co... more 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, and function, approaches to the scientific study of inner speech have remained diffuse and largely unintegrated. This review examines prominent theoretical approaches to inner speech and methodological challenges in its study, before reviewing current evidence on inner speech in children and adults from both typical and atypical populations. We conclude by considering prospects for an integrated cognitive science of inner speech, and present a multicomponent model of the phenomenon informed by developmental, cognitive, and psycholinguistic considerations. Despite its variability among individuals and across the life span, inner speech appears to perform significant functions in human cognition, which in some cases reflect its developmental origins and its sharing of resources with other cognitive processes.

We welcome Hurlburt, Heavey & Kelsey's (2013) nuanced descriptions of inner speech emerging from ... more We welcome Hurlburt, Heavey & Kelsey's (2013) nuanced descriptions of inner speech emerging from the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method, and their thoughtful exploration of implications for theorising about inner speech and verbal thinking. Their characterisation of inner speaking as a heterogeneous and multidimensional experience makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of this important and neglected phenomenon. Our comments concern the characterisation of our own self-report scale on the phenomenology of inner speech, limitations of the DES method, and further implications for this research area.

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically dev... more 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 associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD.

Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are complex experiences that occur in the context of various... more 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 article reviews research on AVH in nonclinical individuals and provides a cross-disciplinary view of the clinical relevance of these experiences in defining the risk of mental illness and need for care. Prevalence rates of AVH vary according to measurement tool and indicate a continuum of experience in the general population. Cross-sectional comparisons of individuals with AVH with and without need for care reveal similarities in phenomenology and some underlying mechanisms but also highlight key differences in emotional valence of AVH, appraisals, and behavioral response. Longitudinal studies suggest that AVH are an antecedent of clinical disorders when combined with negative emotional states, specific cognitive difficulties and poor coping,...

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013

Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studie... more Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studied in terms of their responsiveness to a computer-based learning program designed to assess syntactic awareness. The children learned to touch words on a screen in the correct sequence in order to see a corresponding animation, such as ‘monkey flies’. The game progressed in levels from 2 to 4 word sequences, contingent upon success at each stage. Although performance was highly variable across participants, a detailed review of their learning profiles suggested that no child lacked syntactic awareness and that elementary syntactic control in a non-speech domain was superior to that manifest in their spoken language. The reasons for production failures at the level of speech in children with autism are discussed.

Background Behavioural studies have highlighted irregularities in recognition of facial affect in... more 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 magnetoencephalography (MEG) have identified abnormal activation and irregular maintenance of gamma (> 30 Hz) range oscillations when ASD individuals attempt basic visual and auditory tasks.

PloS one, Jan 1, 2012

Background: Urinary mercury concentrations are used in research exploring mercury exposure. Some ... more 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 were significantly increased or decreased compared to controls or siblings.

Twenty-two children with autism spectrum disorders who had not responded to supported behaviour m... more Twenty-two children with autism spectrum
disorders who had not responded to supported behaviour
management strategies for severe dysomnias entered a
double blind, randomised, controlled crossover trial
involving 3 months of placebo versus 3 months of melatonin
to a maximum dose of 10 mg. 17 children completed
the study. There were no significant differences between
sleep variables at baseline. Melatonin significantly
improved sleep latency (by an average of 47 min) and total
sleep (by an average of 52 min) compared to placebo, but
not number of night wakenings. The side effect profile was
low and not significantly different between the two arms.

Autism Research, Jan 1, 2011

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) adopt less efficient strategies than typically deve... more Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing controls (TD) on verbal problem-solving tests such as the Twenty Questions Task. This study examined the hypotheses that this can be explained by differences in (i) planning processes or (ii) selective attention. Twenty-two children with ASD and 21 TD controls matched for age (M Age513:7) and cognitive ability (M FSIQ596.42) were tested on an adapted version of Twenty Questions and two planning tasks. ASD participants could recognize effective questions as well as TD participants on a forced-choice question discrimination task, but were observed to construct plans that were significantly less efficient.
ASD performance was also specifically reduced when items could not be physically removed from the testing array, although this effect could be ameliorated by keeping a written record of participant questions during search. These findings indicate that ASD participants are sensitive to the within-task executive demands of Twenty Questions, but that their inefficiency in strategy relates to planning processes and question selection pretask. The implications for understanding ASD problem-solving skills and their impact on everyday functioning are discussed.

Journal of autism and …, Jan 1, 2011

Fourteen children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and fourteen age-matched typically-develop... more Fourteen children with autism spectrum disorders
(ASD) and fourteen age-matched typically-developing
(TD) controls were tested on an adapted version of the
Twenty Questions Task (Mosher and Hornsby in Studies in
cognitive growth. Wiley, New York, pp 86–102, 1966) to
examine effects of content, executive and verbal IQ factors
on category use in problem-solving (age range 8–17).
Across conditions participants with ASD asked questions
that focussed on smaller categories than controls. Specific
group differences were observed in the handling of abstract
content and response to additional working memory
demands. In addition, post hoc regression analysis indicated
that VIQ predicted performance in ASD but not TD
participants. The implications for theories of category
processing in autism are discussed.

… child psychology and …, Jan 1, 2011

There is relatively little evidence about the effectiveness of parent-training programmes for chi... more There is relatively little evidence about the effectiveness of parent-training programmes for children with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Here we evaluate a programme developed to fill a gap in the provision of parent interventions after EarlyBird, which is only available for parents of pre-school ASC children. This programme (ASCEND) has now been running for five years. Questionnaires were used to evaluate seven consecutive 11-session programmes from 2004 to 2007, involving 79 parents representing 58 children. We measured satisfaction ratings in all seven groups; the latter five groups (59 parents representing 44 children) were given Developmental Behaviour Checklists (DBCs) and parental knowledge questionnaires pre- and post-course. Eighty-eight per cent of respondents found the course useful or very useful while parental knowledge and skills improved significantly across a range of learning outcomes. DBC scores showed significant changes postcourse for total problem behaviours and disruptive/antisocial behaviours, with a trend towards reductions in anxiety as reported by parents. Changes in behaviour scores moderately correlated with specific learning items relating to improved skills in behaviour management. This preliminary evaluation suggests that the course produces positive outcomes in terms of parent satisfaction, parent learning and perceived changes in child behaviour, although further independent analysis is required in the form of a randomized controlled trial.

Despite the recent proliferation of scientiic, clinical, and narrative accounts of auditory verba... more Despite the recent proliferation of scientiic, 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 to understanding hallucina- tory experiences which seeks to demonstrate the value of the humanities and social sciences to advancing knowl- edge in clinical research and practice. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenology of AVH utilizes rigorous and context-appropriate method- ologies to analyze a wider range of irst-person accounts of AVH at 3 contextual levels: (1) cultural, social, and historical; (2) experiential; and (3) biographical. We go on to show that there are signiicant potential beneits for voice hearers, clinicians, and researchers. These include (1) informing the development and reinement of subtypes of hallucinations within and across diagnostic categories; (2) “front-loading” research in cognitive neuroscience; and (3) suggesting new possibilities for therapeutic inter- vention. In conclusion, we argue that an interdisciplin- ary approach to the phenomenology of AVH can nourish the ethical core of scientiic enquiry by challenging its interpretive paradigms, and offer voice hearers richer, potentially more empowering ways to make sense of their experiences.

Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014

AVH also occur in individuals from the general population who have no identifiable psychiatric or... more AVH also occur in individuals from the general population who have no identifiable psychiatric or neurological diagnoses. This article reviews research on AVH in nonclinical individuals and provides a cross-disciplinary view of the clinical relevance of these experiences in defining the risk of mental illness and need for care. Prevalence rates of AVH vary according to measurement tool and indicate a continuum of experience in the general population. Cross-sectional comparisons of individuals with AVH with and without need for care reveal similarities in phenomenology and some underlying mechanisms but also highlight key differences in emotional valence of AVH, appraisals, and behavioral response. Longitudinal studies suggest that AVH are an antecedent of clinical disorders when combined with negative emotional states, specific cognitive difficulties and poor coping, plus family history of psychosis, and environmental exposures such as childhood adversity. However, their predictive value for specific psychiatric disorders is not entirely clear. The theoretical and clinical implications of the reviewed findings are discussed, together with directions for future research.

BMJ open, 2014

The 1 year prevalence of depression in adolescents is about 2%. Treatment with antidepressant med... more The 1 year prevalence of depression in adolescents is about 2%. Treatment with antidepressant medication is not recommended for initial treatment in young people due to concerns over high side effects, poor efficacy and addictive potential. Evidence suggests that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for depression and is currently one of the main treatment options recommended in adolescents. Given the affinity young people have with information technology they may be treated effectively, more widely and earlier in their illness evolution using computer-administered CBT (CCBT). Currently little is known about the clinical and resource implications of implementing CCBT within the National Health Service for adolescents with low mood/depression. We aim to establish the feasibility of running a fully powered randomised controlled trial (RCT). Adolescents aged 12-18 with low mood/depression, (scoring ≥20 on the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ)), will be approa...

Background Auditory hallucinations-or voices-are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders a... more 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 to psychiatry, yet systematic empirical research on the phenomenology of auditory hallucinations remains scarce. We aimed to record a detailed and diverse collection of experiences, in the words of the people who hear voices themselves.

To provide full accounts of human experience and behavior, research in cognitive neuroscience mus... more 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 providing proof of principle that introspection using one method, descriptive experience sampling (DES), can be reliably integrated with fMRI. A participant was trained in the DES method, followed by nine sessions of sampling within an MRI scanner. During moments where the DES interview revealed ongoing inner speaking, fMRI data reliably showed activation in classic speech processing areas including left inferior frontal gyrus. Further, the fMRI data validated the participant's DES observations of the experiential distinction between inner speaking and innerly hearing her own voice. These results highlight the precision and validity of the DES method as a technique of exploring inner experience and the utility of combining such methods with fMRI.

Resting state networks (RSNs) are thought to reflect the intrinsic functional connectivity of bra... more 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 hallucinations (AVH). This review outlines the main hypotheses linking AVH and the resting state, and assesses the evidence for alterations to intrinsic connectivity provided by studies of resting fMRI in AVH. The influence of hallucinations during data acquisition, medication confounds, and movement are also considered. Despite a large variety of analytic methods and designs being deployed, it is possible to conclude that resting connectivity in the left temporal lobe in general and left superior temporal gyrus in particular are disrupted in AVH. There is also preliminary evidence of atypical connectivity in the default mode network and its interaction with other RSNs. Recommendations for future research include the adoption of a common analysis protocol to allow for more overlapping datasets and replication of intrinsic functional connectivity alterations.

Inner speech is a commonly experienced but poorly understood phenomenon. The Varieties of Inner S... more 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 content, condensation, and the presence of other people. Prior findings have linked anxiety and proneness to auditory hallucinations (AH) to these types of inner speech. This study extends that work by examining how inner speech relates to self-esteem and dissociation, and their combined impact upon AH-proneness. 156 students completed the VISQ and measures of self-esteem, dissociation and AH-proneness. Correlational analyses indicated that evaluative inner speech and other people in inner speech were associated with lower self-esteem and greater frequency of dissociative experiences. Dissociation and VISQ scores, but not selfesteem, predicted AH-proneness. Structural equation modelling supported a mediating role for dissociation between specific components of inner speech (evaluative and other people) and AH-proneness. Implications for the development of ''hearing voices'' are discussed.

Inner speech is often reported to be a common and central part of inner experience, but its true ... more 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 in comparison to experience sampling methods (which involve collecting data at random timepoints). The present study compared self-reporting of inner speech collected via a general questionnaire and experience sampling, using data from a custom-made smartphone app (Inner Life). Fifty-one university students completed a generalized self-report measure of inner speech (the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire, VISQ) and responded to at least seven random alerts to report on incidences of inner speech over a 2-week period. Correlations and pairwise comparisons were used to compare generalized endorsements and randomly sampled scores for each VISQ subscale. Significant correlations were observed between general and randomly sampled measures for only two of the four VISQ subscales, and endorsements of inner speech with evaluative or motivational characteristics did not correlate at all across different measures. Endorsement of inner speech items was significantly lower for random sampling compared to generalized self-report, for all VISQ subscales. Exploratory analysis indicated that specific inner speech characteristics were also related to anxiety and future-oriented thinking.

Inner speech-also known as covert speech or verbal thinking-has been implicated in theories of co... more 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, and function, approaches to the scientific study of inner speech have remained diffuse and largely unintegrated. This review examines prominent theoretical approaches to inner speech and methodological challenges in its study, before reviewing current evidence on inner speech in children and adults from both typical and atypical populations. We conclude by considering prospects for an integrated cognitive science of inner speech, and present a multicomponent model of the phenomenon informed by developmental, cognitive, and psycholinguistic considerations. Despite its variability among individuals and across the life span, inner speech appears to perform significant functions in human cognition, which in some cases reflect its developmental origins and its sharing of resources with other cognitive processes.

We welcome Hurlburt, Heavey & Kelsey's (2013) nuanced descriptions of inner speech emerging from ... more We welcome Hurlburt, Heavey & Kelsey's (2013) nuanced descriptions of inner speech emerging from the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method, and their thoughtful exploration of implications for theorising about inner speech and verbal thinking. Their characterisation of inner speaking as a heterogeneous and multidimensional experience makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of this important and neglected phenomenon. Our comments concern the characterisation of our own self-report scale on the phenomenology of inner speech, limitations of the DES method, and further implications for this research area.

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically dev... more 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 associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD.

Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are complex experiences that occur in the context of various... more 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 article reviews research on AVH in nonclinical individuals and provides a cross-disciplinary view of the clinical relevance of these experiences in defining the risk of mental illness and need for care. Prevalence rates of AVH vary according to measurement tool and indicate a continuum of experience in the general population. Cross-sectional comparisons of individuals with AVH with and without need for care reveal similarities in phenomenology and some underlying mechanisms but also highlight key differences in emotional valence of AVH, appraisals, and behavioral response. Longitudinal studies suggest that AVH are an antecedent of clinical disorders when combined with negative emotional states, specific cognitive difficulties and poor coping,...

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013

Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studie... more Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studied in terms of their responsiveness to a computer-based learning program designed to assess syntactic awareness. The children learned to touch words on a screen in the correct sequence in order to see a corresponding animation, such as ‘monkey flies’. The game progressed in levels from 2 to 4 word sequences, contingent upon success at each stage. Although performance was highly variable across participants, a detailed review of their learning profiles suggested that no child lacked syntactic awareness and that elementary syntactic control in a non-speech domain was superior to that manifest in their spoken language. The reasons for production failures at the level of speech in children with autism are discussed.

Background Behavioural studies have highlighted irregularities in recognition of facial affect in... more 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 magnetoencephalography (MEG) have identified abnormal activation and irregular maintenance of gamma (> 30 Hz) range oscillations when ASD individuals attempt basic visual and auditory tasks.

PloS one, Jan 1, 2012

Background: Urinary mercury concentrations are used in research exploring mercury exposure. Some ... more 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 were significantly increased or decreased compared to controls or siblings.

Twenty-two children with autism spectrum disorders who had not responded to supported behaviour m... more Twenty-two children with autism spectrum
disorders who had not responded to supported behaviour
management strategies for severe dysomnias entered a
double blind, randomised, controlled crossover trial
involving 3 months of placebo versus 3 months of melatonin
to a maximum dose of 10 mg. 17 children completed
the study. There were no significant differences between
sleep variables at baseline. Melatonin significantly
improved sleep latency (by an average of 47 min) and total
sleep (by an average of 52 min) compared to placebo, but
not number of night wakenings. The side effect profile was
low and not significantly different between the two arms.

Autism Research, Jan 1, 2011

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) adopt less efficient strategies than typically deve... more Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing controls (TD) on verbal problem-solving tests such as the Twenty Questions Task. This study examined the hypotheses that this can be explained by differences in (i) planning processes or (ii) selective attention. Twenty-two children with ASD and 21 TD controls matched for age (M Age513:7) and cognitive ability (M FSIQ596.42) were tested on an adapted version of Twenty Questions and two planning tasks. ASD participants could recognize effective questions as well as TD participants on a forced-choice question discrimination task, but were observed to construct plans that were significantly less efficient.
ASD performance was also specifically reduced when items could not be physically removed from the testing array, although this effect could be ameliorated by keeping a written record of participant questions during search. These findings indicate that ASD participants are sensitive to the within-task executive demands of Twenty Questions, but that their inefficiency in strategy relates to planning processes and question selection pretask. The implications for understanding ASD problem-solving skills and their impact on everyday functioning are discussed.

Journal of autism and …, Jan 1, 2011

Fourteen children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and fourteen age-matched typically-develop... more Fourteen children with autism spectrum disorders
(ASD) and fourteen age-matched typically-developing
(TD) controls were tested on an adapted version of the
Twenty Questions Task (Mosher and Hornsby in Studies in
cognitive growth. Wiley, New York, pp 86–102, 1966) to
examine effects of content, executive and verbal IQ factors
on category use in problem-solving (age range 8–17).
Across conditions participants with ASD asked questions
that focussed on smaller categories than controls. Specific
group differences were observed in the handling of abstract
content and response to additional working memory
demands. In addition, post hoc regression analysis indicated
that VIQ predicted performance in ASD but not TD
participants. The implications for theories of category
processing in autism are discussed.

… child psychology and …, Jan 1, 2011

There is relatively little evidence about the effectiveness of parent-training programmes for chi... more There is relatively little evidence about the effectiveness of parent-training programmes for children with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Here we evaluate a programme developed to fill a gap in the provision of parent interventions after EarlyBird, which is only available for parents of pre-school ASC children. This programme (ASCEND) has now been running for five years. Questionnaires were used to evaluate seven consecutive 11-session programmes from 2004 to 2007, involving 79 parents representing 58 children. We measured satisfaction ratings in all seven groups; the latter five groups (59 parents representing 44 children) were given Developmental Behaviour Checklists (DBCs) and parental knowledge questionnaires pre- and post-course. Eighty-eight per cent of respondents found the course useful or very useful while parental knowledge and skills improved significantly across a range of learning outcomes. DBC scores showed significant changes postcourse for total problem behaviours and disruptive/antisocial behaviours, with a trend towards reductions in anxiety as reported by parents. Changes in behaviour scores moderately correlated with specific learning items relating to improved skills in behaviour management. This preliminary evaluation suggests that the course produces positive outcomes in terms of parent satisfaction, parent learning and perceived changes in child behaviour, although further independent analysis is required in the form of a randomized controlled trial.