From: david@edenroad.demon.co.uk   
      
   On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:42:58 -0400, Janice wrote:   
      
   > On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:27:52 +0100, David Mitchell wrote:   
   >   
   >> "Psychiatrists believe that these auditory hallucinations are caused   
   >> when the brain spontaneously activates, creating a false perception   
   >> of a voice," says Professor Hunter of the university's psychiatry   
   department.   
   >   
   > I agree with that part.   
   >   
   >> Such imaginary voices are typically likely to be middle-aged and   
   >> carry "derogatory" messages.   
   >   
   > The derogatory nature pertains primarily to the voices of the mentally   
   > ill, though.  If they are only looking at the mentally ill, they should   
   > cross-compare with voices heard by people who are not mentally ill, such   
   > as hypnagogic voices.  The schizophrenic's brain obviously doesn't work   
   > quite the same way as other people's, and there may be psychological   
   > factors at work as well.  If the patient had a problem with derisive   
   > middle-aged male authority figures, for instance, or happened to   
   > experience a lot of teasing by male peers upon a time, then it would   
   > seem natural to produce a male-sounding derogatory voice.  It would be   
   > interesting to see if there's any obvious trend in the content or nature   
   > of the male voices versus the female voices in those individuals who do   
   > hear both.   
      
   Yes, it would.   
      
   >> "This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male   
   >> voice," says Professor Hunter.   
   >   
   > I'm not convinced. If this were an issue one would expect the vast   
   > majority of speaking dream characters to be male as well.   
      
   Hmmmm.   
      
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