Jan 26, 2026 02:28 AM
https://knowridge.com/2026/01/study-find...zophrenia/
EXCERPTS: A new study from UNSW Sydney provides some of the clearest evidence yet that hearing voices in schizophrenia may come from the brain confusing its own thoughts as external sounds. This means that people who hear voices might actually be hearing their own inner speech but their brains think it is coming from someone else.
The research, published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin, could also help scientists find biological markers for schizophrenia—clear signs in the body or brain that doctors can use to identify the condition. At the moment, there are no blood tests or brain scans that can diagnose schizophrenia.
Professor Thomas Whitford, a psychologist at UNSW, has been studying how inner speech works in both healthy people and people with schizophrenia. He explains that inner speech is that quiet voice in your head that talks to you throughout the day, helping you plan, reflect, or think things through. Most people experience this voice all the time without thinking much about it.
Normally, when someone talks out loud, or even just silently in their head, the brain predicts the sound of their own voice. This prediction causes a drop in activity in the part of the brain that processes sound. But in people who hear voices, this prediction seems to go wrong. Instead of calming down, the brain acts as though the sound is coming from outside.
This idea—that people with schizophrenia may be hearing their own inner voice as if it were someone else’s—has been around for about 50 years. But because inner speech is invisible and private, it has been very hard to prove.
[...] This research is important because it gives strong support to the theory that schizophrenia might involve problems in how the brain predicts and understands its own thoughts. This misunderstanding may cause a person to hear their inner voice as if it belongs to someone else... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: A new study from UNSW Sydney provides some of the clearest evidence yet that hearing voices in schizophrenia may come from the brain confusing its own thoughts as external sounds. This means that people who hear voices might actually be hearing their own inner speech but their brains think it is coming from someone else.
The research, published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin, could also help scientists find biological markers for schizophrenia—clear signs in the body or brain that doctors can use to identify the condition. At the moment, there are no blood tests or brain scans that can diagnose schizophrenia.
Professor Thomas Whitford, a psychologist at UNSW, has been studying how inner speech works in both healthy people and people with schizophrenia. He explains that inner speech is that quiet voice in your head that talks to you throughout the day, helping you plan, reflect, or think things through. Most people experience this voice all the time without thinking much about it.
Normally, when someone talks out loud, or even just silently in their head, the brain predicts the sound of their own voice. This prediction causes a drop in activity in the part of the brain that processes sound. But in people who hear voices, this prediction seems to go wrong. Instead of calming down, the brain acts as though the sound is coming from outside.
This idea—that people with schizophrenia may be hearing their own inner voice as if it were someone else’s—has been around for about 50 years. But because inner speech is invisible and private, it has been very hard to prove.
[...] This research is important because it gives strong support to the theory that schizophrenia might involve problems in how the brain predicts and understands its own thoughts. This misunderstanding may cause a person to hear their inner voice as if it belongs to someone else... (MORE - missing details)
