Top-Down Control of Bottom Up Perceptual Processes Theory

Healthy individuals who ‘‘hear voices’’ are typically aware that
the ‘‘voices’’ they hear stem from inner thought and not from an
external source. They therefore seem to be able to cognitively
cope with the salient perceptual experiences by recruiting inhibitory
control functions. Thus, it is suggested that inhibitory control
functions should be important to modulate whether a
perceptual experience is interpreted as coming from an external
source or not. In other words, an expanded theoretical model
would have to take into account the dynamic interplay between
bottom-up effects and top-down information processing, where
perception is seen as a bottom-up process and inhibitory cognitive
control is seen as a top-down process.

--‘‘Hearing voices’’: Auditory hallucinations as failure of top-down
control of bottom-up perceptual processes

KENNETH HUGDAHL

Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway and Division of Psychiatry and Bergen Mental Health Center,
Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway