cognitive explanation

• Cognitive Explanations

  Explanations that focus on mental processes such as thinking, language and attention
• Research has found evidence that people with schizophrenia have dysfunctional thought processing in

  the sense that they process information differently to those without the disorder
• People with SZ have reduced thought processing in the

  ventral striatum
• Implications of reduced through processing in the ventral stratium:

  • decrease in the brain's ability to manage or organize thoughts effectively
  • slowed thinking, difficulty connecting ideas
  • lack of mental clarity
• Reduced thought processing in the ventral striatum links to SZ through

  • manifest as disorganised thoughts
  • difficulty in maintaining a logical flow in conversations
  • linked to negative symptoms such as speech poverty and avolition
• People with SZ are thought to have reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri
• Implications of reduced processing of information in the temporal and cingulate gyri:

  • problem with perceiving, interpreting, reflecting or acting on information
  • effect on response to external stimuli