cognitive explanation

• What cognitive functions does the Cognitive Model consider?

  Memory, attention, language and thought, and visual perception
• How does the Cognitive Model relate to the biological perspective in schizophrenia?


  It agrees that dysfunctions in brain mechanisms may underpin symptoms of schizophrenia
• What does the Cognitive approach suggest about the development of symptoms in schizophrenia?


  Symptoms develop as the patient tries to make sense of their unusual sensory experiences
• What cognitive problems are illustrated in the 'black box' analogy regarding schizophrenia?


  Misinterpretation of social cues and feelings of paranoia
• What cognitive deficits are proposed by Helmsley and Frith in schizophrenia?

  • Inability to focus attention
  • failure to utilise schemas
  • failure to understand context
• How does the inability to focus attention manifest in schizophrenia?


  It leads to an overload of external stimuli, causing disorganised thought and speech
• What does Helmsley suggest about the failure to utilise schemas in schizophrenia?

  Schizophrenics treat each situation as novel, which can be overwhelming and confusing
• What is the impact of dysfunctional thought processing according to Firth?


  It disrupts the ability to recognize one's own thoughts, leading to hallucinations
• What is metarepresentation in the context of schizophrenia?


  It is the cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behavior
• How does dysfunction in metarepresentation explain hallucinations?


  It leads individuals to believe their thoughts are coming from external sources
• What is central control in cognitive processing?


  It is the ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions
• How does central control dysfunction manifest in schizophrenia?


  It can result in disorganised speech and thought disorder due to inability to suppress automatic thoughts
• What example illustrates the derailment of thoughts in schizophrenic patients?


  Each word triggers associations, leading to disrupted thoughts and sentences
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive approach to schizophrenia?


  Strengths:

  • Links symptoms to cognitive processes
  • Provides insight into the patient's experience

  
  

  Weaknesses:

  • Does not explain the origins of faulty cognitions
  • Cannot account for all symptoms of schizophrenia
• What does the Stroop Task reveal about cognitive processing in schizophrenia?


  It supports the idea that information is processed differently in the mind
• What did Stirling find regarding the Stroop Task and schizophrenics?


  It took schizophrenics twice as long to complete the task, supporting central control dysfunction
• What is a limitation of the cognitive explanation for schizophrenia?


  It does not explain the origins of the faulty cognitions or of schizophrenia
• failure to utilise schemas


  Internal thoughts are not recognised as coming from memory and so are attributed to external sources

  (explains auditory hallucinations)
• limitations of cognitive explanation

  
  

  
  

  • does not explain the underlying cause which is probably biological, only explains some aspects of how people with schizophrenia think
  • does not address the underlying cause, so any therapeutic attempts based on the cognitive explanation might just deal with some symptoms
  • not so good at explaining negative symptoms, can explain certain symptoms, eg delusions,
• Criticisms of cognitive explanations


  • There remain problems with cognitive explanations of schizophrenia.
  • Although links between schizophrenia and faulty cognitions are clear, cognitive explanations do little to explain the causes of the disorder.