Cognitive explanations

• Frith et al. (1992) identified two kinds of dysfunction thought processing that could underlie some symptoms:

  1. Metarepresentation.
  2. Central control.
• Metarepresentation:


  Metarepresentation is the cognitive ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour. This dysfunction disrupts our ability to recognise our thoughts as our own - could lead to the sensation of hearing voices (hallucination) and having thoughts placed in the mind by others (delusions).
• Central control:


  Firth et al. (1992) also identified dysfunction of central control as a way to explain speech poverty - central control being the cognitive ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions. People with schizophrenia experience derailment of thoughts and spoken sentences because each word triggers automatic associations that they cannot suppress.