The Structure and Measurement of Unusual Sensory Experiences in Different Modalities: The Multi-Modality Unusual Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (MUSEQ)

Abstract

Hallucinations and other unusual sensory experiences (USE) can occur in all modalities in the general population. Yet, the existing literature is dominated by investigations into auditory hallucinations (“voices”), while other modalities remain under-researched. Furthermore, there is a paucity of measures which can systematically assess different modalities, which limits our ability to detect individual and group differences across modalities. The current study explored such differences using a new scale, the Multi-Modality Unusual Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (MUSEQ). The MUSEQ is a 43-item self-report measure which assesses USE in six modalities: auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, bodily sensations, and sensed presence. Scale development and validation involved a total of 1,300 participants, which included: 513 students and community members for initial development, 32 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder or bipolar disorder for validation, 659 students for factor replication, and 96 students for test-retest reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a correlated-factors model and bifactor model yielded acceptable model fit, while a unidimensional model fitted poorly. These findings were confirmed in the replication sample. Results showed contributions from a general common factor, as well as modality-specific factors. The latter accounted for less variance than the general factor, but could still detect theoretically meaningful group differences. The MUSEQ showed good reliability, construct validity, and could discriminate non-clinical and clinical groups. The MUSEQ offers a reliable means of measuring hallucinations and other USE in six different modalities.

Sensory supernatural experiences in autism

“…Another four cases are presented by Dossetor (2007), confirming that imaginary friends and anthropomorphic ideas about objects do manifest within the autistic framework. From the studies conducted so far, this prevalence appears to be higher than the estimated 5-30% in the general population (see Mitchell et al, 2017), but the varied distribution in this study suggests that unusual somatosensory experiences cannot be generalized across all autistic individuals.…”

Developing a dynamic model of anomalous experiences and function in young people with or without psychosis: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study protocol

“…Anomalous perceptual experiences: Multimodal Unusual Sensory Experiences Questionnaire . 35 This measures anomalous perceptual/sensory experiences with six subscales. Both the full scale and subscales have been demonstrated as possessing good reliability (auditory r=0.72, visual r=0.72), good validity between clinical and non-clinical group (Cohen’s d=0.96) and significance with all other anomalous experience scale, and internal consistency (auditory α=0.82, visual α=0.88).…”

“…However, metacognitive efficiency/sensitivity (measured using meta -d′ ) is known to be modality-specific 33 34 and anomalous perceptual-experiences (eg, hallucinations) can vary in modalities. 35 It has also been acknowledged that auditory anomalous experiences are most common in psychosis, 36 37 all of which may suggest a modality-specific association with auditory or visual anomalous experiences and perception/metacognition. This present study will assess the modality-specific association between perceptual bias (signal detection bias) and metacognitions with anomalous perceptual experiences in visual and auditory modalities, while controlling for objective performance (see figure 1 ).…”

Wine psychology: basic & applied

“…Finally here, it is interesting to note that there is growing interest not just in modifying tasters' ratings of wine attributes such as fruitiness, acidity, or sweetness, but in actually delivering extraordinary tasting experiences that are somehow more (or greater) than the sum of their parts (Spence, 2020a; see also Mitchell et al, 2017). There have, for instance, been occasional reports of people being brought to tears by the combination of wine and purposely composed matching music (e.g., Knapton, 2015).…”