Cognitive explanation

• What is cognitive explanation?

  This argues that schizophrenia is due to faulty information processing. This is better at explaining the positive symptoms.
• What are cognitive deficits?

  • This is associated with problems of information processing such as attention and information overload.
  • People have an inner speech they recognise but schizo’s think that the voice is not theirs but rather someone else’s.
  • They may also have problems with visual and auditory processing. 
  • They may also have communication problems as they are not able to recognise clues in how another person is feeling. An example of this is someone crying. 
  • This cognitive deficit is associated with decreased emotional expression, disorganised speech and delusions.
• Who identified the types of dysfunctional thought processes?

  Frith (1992)
• What is metarepresentation? (dysfunctional thinking)

  • This is the ability to reflect on our thoughts and insight into other people’s intentions as well.
  • Dysfunctional metarepresentation means we do not have the ability to recognise our own thoughts.
  • They don't recognise that their thoughts are not their own and can lead to hallucinations of hearing voices.
  • It explains ‘thought insertion’ where thoughts are being projected into your mind by others.
• What is central control? (dysfunctional thinking)

  • This is the ability to suppress automatic responses.
  • Speech poverty and disorganised thoughts can result in an inability to suppress these automatic thoughts.
  • Every time a schizophrenic says a word, this can cause a new association, which eventually leads to thought derailment and disruption of speech
• Positive evaluation for central control?

  • There is evidence for dysfunctional thinking in schizo’s.
  • Stirling et al conducted a study where he had 30 schizo’s and 18 control (without schizo) on a range of cognitive tasks including the stroop test.
  • The stroop test involves naming the ink colour of colour words and suppressing the urge to read the word as they are.
  • They found that schizo’s took twice as long in reading them. They have a problem with central control.
• Positive evaluation for cognitive bias research?

  • Sarin and Wallin reviewed cognitive bias research that supported positive symptoms being associated with faulty cognition.
  • Delusional patients showed biases like lack of reality testing and jumping to conclusions.
  • They also thought their thoughts as voices.
• Negative evaluation for information processing?

  • There is lots of evidence to suggest the link between faulty information processing and schizophrenia but does not tell us the true cause of these issues.
  • It is good at explaining what causes the current symptoms but not the distal causes.
  • It is a limited explanation.
• Positive evaluation regarding real life implications?

  • Yellowless et al (2002) developed a machine that made virtual hallucinations like hearing the TV telling to kill yourself or a visual hallucination of a person’s face morphing into another.
  • It was made to show shizo's that their hallucinations are not real. 
  • This shows that the cognitive explanation is useful for treatments to improve the quality of life.
• Positive evaluation regarding CBT?

  • Many effective cognitive behavioral therapies have been used.
  • NICE (2014) reviewed treatments for depression and was found that CBT was more effective than antipsychotic medication in reducing symptoms and increasing social functioning.
  • If a behaviourist treatment is more effective, it suggest that faulty cognition started it rather than genetics.