Jumping to conclusions: A network model predicts schizophrenic patients' performance on a probabilistic reasoning task

Abstract

This article extends computational models of schizophrenia that focus on the negative aspects of this syndrome to behavioral biases that are associated with a positive symptom of schizophrenia, namely delusions. The phenomenon studied is the "jump-to-conclusions" style of reasoning that is characterized by delusional patients - in comparison with controls - whereby they make less-informed decisions when an option to collect more decision-specific information is available. Simulations show that these differences can be mimicked by modulating the gain parameter - associated with variations in dopamine level - in a simple network model. Copyright 2006 Psychonomic Society, Inc.