cognitive/non bio expo of sz

Question 1

sz cog summary

Answer 1

-Faulty information processing is when the patient with sz struggles to filter out unnecessary information leading to sensory overload and causing symptoms such as hallucinations.
-People with sz have problems with meta-representation meaning they misattribute the voice in their head (inner monologue) as an external person speaking to them, which causes symptoms such as auditory hallucinations.
- People with sz have an ability to generate willed action, meaning they struggle to translate thoughts into actions, which can lead to symptoms such as social withdrawal or alogia as they are unable to act on their thoughts.
-Patients with sz cannot access their schemas meaning they do not know what to expect from situations, leading to sensory overload and symptoms like disorganized thinking.

Question 2

Hemsley summary

Answer 2

-A poor link between memory and perception can lead to disorganised thinking as people will not know what to expect from a situation
-We all access schemas all the time but sz have harder time with this leading to sensory overload
-This leads to disorganised thinking and behavior
-Some of the negative symptoms of sz may be result of cog strategies used by the individual to keep mental stimulation to a manageable level eg social withdrawal

Question 3

sz persons problems with meta representation

Answer 3

-meta representation is Ability to reflect and monitor your own thoughts and intention
-Sz fail to monitor their own thoughts correctly, misattributing them to the outside world
-Hallucinations can also be caused by thinking our inner voice is an external voice telling us what to do

Question 4

sz cog deficits

Answer 4

-inability to generate willed action- unable to translate thought to behavior eg social withdrawal, alogia
-Inability to monitor willed action- erratic behavior eg disorganised thinking
Inability to monitor beliefs and intentions of others–think someones trying to hurt them when their not (delusions of persecution)

Question 5

cog expo for sz symptoms

Answer 5

Positive symptoms of schitzophrenia have consistently and effectively been explained by biological explanations
The cognitive approach acknowledges that high dopamine have effect
Frith (1979)-Attention deficit theory
Sz can be caused by a faulty attention system(sensory overload)
We can ignore all of the unconscious processes like thought, perception and decision making
People with sz do not filter out irrelevant information from the senses creating cognitive overload- this causes hallucinations

Question 6

McGuire et al. (1996)

Answer 6

McGuire et al. (1996)

During hallucinations, the part of the brain in the temporal lobe responsible for identifying and monitoring ‘inner speech’ recorded reduced activity
Supports that the person with sz is monitoring the voice to someone else, making cognitive theory of schizophrenia more credible

Question 7

Dickson et al. (2018)

Answer 7

Dickson et al. (2018)

Found that adolescents at risk of developing sz had deficits in a variety of cognitive functions
Supports because it provides evidence that people with schizophrenia have cognitive deficits
OTOH no cause and effect

Question 8

Sitsckoorn et al. (2004)

Answer 8

Sitsckoorn et al. (2004)

Found that relatives of schizophrenics had similar cognitive deficits but did not develop schizophrenia
Conflicts because if cognitive problems were the only cause of sz, then the relatives would also have sz, cannot be the only reason people get sz

Question 9

Compare the cognitive and neurotransmitter explanation of schizophrenia (4)

Answer 9

Compare the cognitive and neurotransmitter explanation of schizophrenia (4)

Neither theory of schizophrenia can establish cause nor effect because you cannot measure a thought process.
Both explanations fail to create a holistic explanation of sz making them reductionist
Cog better at negative symptoms
Neuro better at positive
Both explain positive and negative symptoms to a degree