Hallucination 1/2

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2012

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Geoff Watts meets researchers attempting to unlock the mysteries of hallucination as well as some of those who experience the phenomenon. Hallucinations aren't what they used to be. Time was when reporting a divine vision would bring fame or fortune. The Enlightenment changed all that and nowadays you'd be more at risk of being handed a prescription for a major tranquilliser for reporting what you saw or heard.

Hallucinating, in essence, the experience of seeing or hearing (and sometimes smelling or touching) something that by any objective measure, isn't there, has been linked to a wide variety of causes. But there are also examples of otherwise 'healthy' individuals who have experienced vivid and sometimes distressing hallucinations. With the advent of fMRI scanning, researchers can observe the hallucinating brain in action, it is these 'healthy' individuals who are beginning to open the doors of perception and which may provide new insights and treatments for psychosis and schizophrenia.

(Image: Coloured lights and dots, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.
1:06.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over
1:11.1	at BBC Sounds, Just before this BBC
1:13.5	podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. My name's Linda
1:17.8	Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. As you'd expect at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality
1:25.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
1:30.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things
1:35.0	like pop stars, poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
1:42.0	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
	...

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