Cognitive explanation (DTP)

• Metarepresentation


  • Cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour, and whether they occur internally or externally
  • Schizophrenics have a dysfunction of this - they can't recognise thoughts as their own, leads to auditory hallucinations - Frith
  • Corollary discharge mechanism - recognising where things come from
• Central control


  • Being able to suppress automatic responses
  • Schizophrenics can't control this, leads to tangentially and derailment
• Attentional biases

  • Bentall - abnormal attention in those with persecutory delusions in schizophrenia is given to threatening stimuli
  • They are biased toward these stimuli and perceive the world as negative and threatening