Related Experiment Videos
Parallel distributed processing and the emergence of schizophrenic symptoms
1Yale Psychiatric Institute, New Haven, CT 06520.
Schizophrenia Bulletin
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Computer simulations using parallel distributed processing (PDP) reveal how schizophrenia may stem from impaired brain communication. This model explains symptoms like delusions and hallucinations as arising from "parasitic foci" in neural circuits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Psychiatry
Background:
- Computer simulations of parallel distributed processing (PDP) neural networks have advanced brain functioning understanding.
- Schizophrenia is increasingly understood as a disorder involving breakdowns in communication between cortical brain areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review how PDP concepts can elucidate schizophrenic symptoms.
- To present a computational model of impaired corticocortical communication in schizophrenia.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on PDP, schizophrenia, and neuroimaging studies.
- Development of a computer simulation modeling cortical circuit pathology.
Main Results:
- The simulation suggests two neurocognitive consequences of impaired corticocortical communication: functionally autonomous cortical circuits and "parasitic foci."
- "Parasitic foci" are hypothesized to slavishly reproduce cognitive output, potentially explaining specific schizophrenic symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Schizophrenic symptoms, including delusions of control, paranoid delusions, thought broadcasting, auditory hallucinations, and deficit symptoms, may result from parasitic foci at various language processing levels.
- A neurodevelopmental model of impaired corticocortical communication is proposed, offering avenues for future research into schizophrenia.