Neural Correlates

• One explanation for the cause of schizophrenia is neural correlates. This means abnormalities in certain parts of the brain are linked to symptoms of schizophrenia.
• The best known neural correlate is the neurotransmitter dopamine.
• The updated dopamine hypothesis suggests that high levels of dopamine (hyperdopaminergia) in Broca’s area is thought to interrupt speech patterns, causing speech to be less fluid and causing symptoms such as poverty of speech.
• Low levels of dopamine (hypodopaminergia) in the prefrontal cortex are linked to symptoms such as disorganised thinking and avolition. This is because this part of the brain is responsible for thought processing and decision making so interruption here will prevent decisions being made, so avolition may occur if people cannot decide what goals to set themselves.
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  One strength of the dopamine hypothesis as a neural correlate is that there is supportive research for the idea that high levels are linked to the disorder.  Research has shown that when patients are given amphetamine drugs which increase levels of dopamine, patients develop psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.