Brain mapping of auditory hallucinations and illusions induced by direct intracortical electrical stimulation.

Background: The exact architecture of the human auditory cortex remains a subject of debate, with discrepancies between functional and microstructural studies. In a hierarchical framework for sensory perception, simple sound perception is expected to take place in the primary auditory cortex, while the processing of complex, or more integrated perceptions is proposed to rely on associative and higher-order cortices.

Objectives: We hypothesize that auditory symptoms induced by direct electrical stimulation (DES) offer a window into the architecture of the brain networks involved in auditory hallucinations and illusions.