Hallucinations produced by sensory conditioning.

Abstract

160 subjects were used in an expt. to produce auditory hallucinations. A tone with a gradual onset and decline, used as an unconditioned stimulus, was paired for 60 trials with a light used as a conditioned stimulus. 32 of 40 subjects under these conditions reported hearing the tone when the light was later presented alone. Appropriate control groups demonstrated that the effect was not due entirely to suggestion in the instructions or test trial conditions. The present evidence was concluded inadequate to determine whether the phenomenon was "true conditioning" or not.