reduced synaptic connectivity model of hallucinations

   The name of a hypothetical model designed to explain the mediation of "verbal auditory hallucinations and certain other types of hallucination. In this model a central role is attributed to excessive synaptic pruning in the CNS. Notably, excessive eliminations of cortico-cortical connections have been mentioned as advantageous to the occurrence of hallucinations, whether or not in combination with compensatory alterations in dopaminergic activity.

   References

   Hoffman, R.E., McGlashan, Th.H. (1997). Synaptic elimination, neurodevelopment, and the mechanism of hallucinated "voices" in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1683-1689.