Effect of Audio-Visio Hallucinations on Memory in healthy individuals: an Experimental Study

Vivid perceptions of nonexistent events are produced by hallucinations, which can appear in a variety of sensory modalities and occur in the absence of sensory stimuli. The notion that associative learning experiences can elicit conditioning-induced hallucinations has been effectively utilized by methods from the fields of experimental and cognitive psychology. In this work, we expand on the existing literature by emphasizing how induced hallucinations can heighten users' cognitive experiences, along with focusing on the physical and psychological effects of using it. In order to determine users' cognitive functioning when exposed to induced hallucinations, we first carried out a preliminary experiment without audio conditioning. The findings indicated that specific circumstances may affect the memory of the individual. After that, we created an interactive scenario aimed at inducing mild to moderate positive visual hallucinations conditioned with negative audio and negative visual hallucinations conditioned with positive audio and then with combining positive auditory-visual hallucinations and negative auditory-visual hallucinations. Participants acted out the scenario in visually induced hallucinations and also in visually induced hallucinations conditioned with the audio. Participants who practiced the hallucinations conditioned with audio reported higher levels of absorption, which subsequently raised the intensity of their cognitive response to the event. The individuals' cognitive states were assessed using a Semantic memory scale and PANSS to assess positive and negative symptoms using advance software Psychopy. After being exposed to conditionally evoked hallucinations; the individuals' cognitive functioning was disturbed.