Background: Basic self-disturbance, or anomalous self-experiences (ASEs), is a core feature of the schizophrenia spectrum. We propose a novel method of natural language processing to quantify ASEs in spoken language by direct comparison to an inventory of self-disturbance, the Inventory of Psychotic-Like Anomalous Self-Experiences (IPASE). We hypothesized that there would be increased...
There is evidence that long-term cannabis use is associated with alterations to glutamate neurotransmission and glial function. In this study, twenty-six long-term cannabis users (males=65.4%) and 47 non-cannabis using healthy controls (males=44.6%) underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in order to characterize neurometabolite...
Studies from preclinical animal models indicate that sustained activation of CB1 receptor signaling is a major contributing factor for the onset of cognitive deficits associated to chronic cannabis use, in particular within the working memory and decision-making domains. Yet, very few studies have been designed to directly assess the role of CB1 receptors in mediating the effects of cannabis on...
How does an excess in a neurochemical lead someone to being paranoid about the intentions of their neighbour? And why does blocking a dopamine receptor improve this symptom? In this article we present a heuristic framework which attempts to link the biology, phenomenology and pharmacology of psychosis. Focussing on dopamine's role in reward prediction and motivational salience we propose that...