ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1650178
This article is part of the Research TopicAltered cerebral asymmetry in psychotic patientsView all articles
Lateralized Brain Connectivity in Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: fMRI Insights into the Superior and Middle Temporal Gyri
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- 2Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Research Institute and SRIPD-MUP, Translational and Computation Neuroscience Group, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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Introduction: Auditory verbal hallucinations are one of the most prevalent positive symptoms associated with schizophrenia. The superior and middle temporal gyri have been demonstrated to play a role in auditory and language perception. Dysfunction in the temporal cortex has been associated with the development of psychosis. The aim of the present study was to explore the functional connectivity and laterality of superior and middle temporal gyri in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations. Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data was obtained from a total of 105 subjects including 63 healthy controls and 42 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations. A comparative analysis was conducted to assess the functional connectivity of the superior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally. Results: The comparison between the two groups revealed several significant differences in the resting-state functional connectivity of the superior and middle temporal gyri in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations as compared to healthy controls. The aberrant connections were focused on the anterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus and the posterior part of the left one, as well as in the posterior division of the right middle temporal gyrus and both anterior and posterior divisions of the left middle temporal gyrus. Discussion: The observed dysconnectivity between the named subdivisions of the temporal lobe and cortical and subcortical structures suggests that the aberrant connectivity and brain lateralization may be related to the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia and auditory verbal hallucinations.
Keywords: functional connectivity, Schizophrenia, Auditory verbal hallucinations, resting-state, functional magnetic resonance imaging, superior temporal gyrus, Middle temporal gyrus
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zaykova, Kandilarova, Paunova, Ahmed-Popova and Stoyanov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Vyara Zaykova, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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