Sz: Cognitive Explanations

Question 1

What is the cognitive explanation approach?

Answer 1

• research suggests Sz symptoms might be due to a lack of self monitoring and consequently thought’s and ideas are attributed to external sources because the individual does not realise they are self-generated - so may regard their own thoughts as having come from somewhere else (e.g. voices and hallucinations)

Question 2

What did Frith find?

Answer 2

He speculated the cognitive deficits were linked to an irregularity in the neuronal pathways running between the Sept-hippocampus system and the pre-frontal cortex and identified two dysfunctional thought processes that could underlie some symptoms: meta-representation and central control.

Question 3

What is meta representation?

Answer 3

The cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour - insight into out own intentions and goals and to interpret the actions of others.
- dysfunction in meta representation means we wouldn’t recognise our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves rather than someone else. This explains hallucinations of voices and delusions (the experience of having thoughts projected into the mind by others)

Question 4

What is the central control?

Answer 4

Cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions instead. Disorganised speech and thought could result in the inability to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts (e.g. people with Sz tend to experience derailment of thoughts and spoken sentences because each word triggers associations, and the person cannot suppress automatic responses like these)

Question 5

What was Stirlings research?

Answer 5

• strop test on 30 patients and 18 controls - concluding disorders are linked to semantic processing impairments - where ptps are given a name of a colour, but the ink is in a different colour. Ptps are asked to say the ink colour. The central control would help a person resist the edge to say the word, in Sz ptps, it took twice as long to name the ink - suggesting dysfunction in the central control.
  —> however, other studies have found the opposite - so this study may only be testing a very specific type of cognition - meaning CC doesn’t provide a complete explanation

Question 6

What did McGuire find?

Answer 6

Szics have reduced activity in those parts of the brain involved in monitoring speech

Question 7

What do PET scans show?

Answer 7

Under-activity in the frontal lobe of the brain, which is linked to self-monitoring and so provides biological support

Question 8

What is some evidence against?

Answer 8

• research into brain structural abnormality did not identify such dysfunctions and so there is a need for further research to link together the cognitive and biological explanations

Question 9

What are some problems with this explanation?

Answer 9

• generalisability - self monitoring explanation accounts for positive but not negative symptoms
• lacks ecological validity
• not clear whether cognitive dysfunction is a cause or an affect of the disorder
• other factors —> genetic influence, environmental influences, etc

Question 10

What are some strengths of the explanation?

Answer 10

• accounts for positive symptoms - provides a reasonable account for the symptoms
• scientific validity —> experimental design - good controls