Explaining delusions of control: the comparator model 20 years on
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: March 14, 2025
1Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, UK. cfrith@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
Abstract:
Over the last 20 years the comparator model for delusions of control has received considerable support in terms of empirical studies. However, the original version clearly needs to be replaced by a model with a much greater degree of sophistication and specificity. Future developments are likely to involve the specification of the role of dopamine in the model and a generalisation of its explanatory power to the whole range of positive symptoms. However, we will still need to explain why symptoms can be so variable and we still do not understand the origin of the most mysterious symptom of all: thought insertion.
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