The Shape Of Reality: Cognitive Languages and the Phenomenology of Psychosis
Amalie Stepperud-Antonsen
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 3, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21160451 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Phenomenology philosophy Falsifiability Cognition Psychosis Empirical research Mental representation Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Empirical evidence |
| Key points | Proposes that psychosis preserves an individual's native cognitive architecture while disrupting reality attribution, and that psychotic phenomenology reflects pre-existing representational systems. |
Abstract
This hypothesis paper proposes that psychosis preserves an individuals native cognitive architecture while disrupting reality attribution. Building on predictive processing, dreaming, and the Cognitive Languages framework, it suggests that the phenomenology of psychotic experience reflects the brain's pre-existing representational systems rather than a completely new mode of cognition. The paper presents a series of experimentally falsifiable predictions intended to stimulate empirical research in computational psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, and mechanism-based mental health.
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| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |