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Hallucinations Biomarkers project

About the project

Full title: MRI based comparison between patients diagnosed with narcolepsy type 1, psychotic disorders and healthy controls - focusing on biomarkers for hallucinations

Analysis leads: Hilde T. Juvodden, Dag Alnæs, Berit Hjelde Hansena, Lars T. Westlye, and Stine Knudsen-Heier

This project represents the second NICHY subproject, building on the consortium's initial brain morphology analysis. This study focuses on structural brain differences across diagnostic groups using cortical thickness and subcortical volume measures. Specifically, we aim to:

  • Identify MRI-based biomarkers for hallucinations by comparing brain structure between hallucinating and non-hallucinating patients diagnosed with narcolepsy type 1, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and healthy controls.
  • Examine whether converging structural brain abnormalities across narcolepsy type 1, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder patients reflect common clinical features of hallucinations, particularly focusing on the superior temporal gyrus and other cortical and subcortical regions.
  • Compare brain morphometry between narcolepsy type 1 subgroups (typical, psychotic-like, and with psychotic comorbidity) and psychosis patients to understand variation within the narcolepsy spectrum.

This work aims to identify shared neurobiological mechanisms underlying hallucinations across diagnostic boundaries.