Mind, Brain, and Schizophrenia

Abstract

Reviews the book, Mind, brain, and schizophrenia by Peter Williamson (see record 2005-13365-000). Are we making progress in our search for the causes of schizophrenia? If so, are we doing so by starting with genes and molecules (bottom-up approach) or with brain-based models of abnormal mental states (top-down approach)? These are the questions that Peter Williamson pursues in his book. He very much wants to make sense of a field of research that has often been contentious. Williamson feels strongly that we are making progress and that it is the top-down approach of systems neuroscience that will get us to the goal. He proposes that a problem in the streaming and binding of perceptual, cognitive, and affective information is at the root of schizophrenia. How this will be explained at the level of genes, proteins, neurotransmitters, and brain regions he does not say, although he offers some suggestions. It is more important to him to outline how schizophrenia will be understood in the future, rather than how it can be explained now. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)