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3.3.2 Biological Explanations for Schizophrenia
3.3.2.2 Neural Correlations with Schizophrenia
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Created by
Nya Mills
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Cards (7)
Abnormal levels of
dopamine
correlate with schizophrenia
Dopamine
hypothesis originally only looked at
hyperdopaminegia
in schizophrenia
Hyperdopaminergia
in the
subcortex
eg
Broca's
Area
Suggests that too much dopamine is released
Leads to psychotic symptoms such as
hallucinations
and
delusions
Hypodopaminergia
in the
cortex
eg
prefrontal
cortex = responsible for
thinking
Suggests that there isn't enough dopamine being produced or released
Leads to
negative
symptoms like
apathy
and social withdrawal
Strength = Research Support
Tauscher et al (2014) =
antipsychotic
drugs that
reduce
DA activity,
reduce
intensity of Schz symptoms
Candidate
genes act on production of DA or DA
receptors
Weakness =
Glutamate
McCutcheon et al (2020) = consistently found high levels of
glutamate
in brain regions of people with Schz = used
post-mortem
& live scanning
Challenges
dopamine
hypothesis
Weakness =
Correlation
is not
Causation
Unusual brain activity correlates with
symptoms
Another factor may be the cause