Journal of psychiatric research
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The purpose of this study was to explore whether there are differences in cerebral asymmetry between subgroups of schizophrenic patients with or without auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) and normal controls by using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (efMRI). A total of 26 Chinese Han male patients with paranoid schizophrenia (diagnosed by DSM IV, including 13 patients with AVHs and 13 patients without) and 13 matched normal controls were recruited for the present study. The participants had been instructed to listen to short sentences from left or right side and to indicate laterality during efMRI scanning. ⋯ Furthermore, compared to the non-hallucination group, left Wernicke's area, including supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus and superior temporal gyrus, was significantly activated by both left and right-sided voices in the hallucination group. In summary, auditory-related asymmetry in control subjects is attenuated in schizophrenic patients. The symptoms of AVHs in schizophrenia are possibly correlated with left hemispheric, particularly auditory and language-related areas dysfunction.