From Aberrant Salience to Jumping to Conclusions

Abstract Background Current research does not provide a clear explanation for why some patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) develop psychotic symptoms. In schizophrenia research the ‘aberrant salience hypothesis’ of psychosis has been influential in explaining the development of psychotic symptoms. The theory proposes that dopaminergic dysregulation leads to inappropriate attribution of salience to otherwise irrelevant or non-informative stimuli, facilitating the formation of hallucinations and delusions, by providing irrational explanations. However, this theory has received very limited attention in the context of PD-psychosis. Methods In the study, we investigated salience processing in 14 PD-patients with psychotic symptoms, 23 PD-patients without psychotic symptoms and 19 healthy controls. All patients received dopaminergic medication. There was no difference in the medication dose between the two patient groups. We examined emotional salience using a visual oddball fMRI paradigm that has been used to investigate early stages of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis, controlling for resting cerebral blood flow (arterial spin labelling fMRI). Furthermore, a subgroup of the two patient groups complete a behavioural ‘jumping to conclusions’ task. Results We found significant differences in brain responses to emotional salience between the two patient groups. PD-patients with psychotic symptoms revealed enhanced brain responses in the striatum, the hippocampus and the amygdala compared to patients without psychotic symptoms. PD-patients with psychotic symptoms showed significant correlations between the levels of dopaminergic drugs they were taking and BOLD signalling, as well as psychotic symptom scores. Furthermore, our data provide first indications for dysfunctional top-down processes, measured in a ‘jumping to conclusions’ bias. Discussion Our study suggests that enhanced signalling in the striatum, hippocampus and amygdala together with deficient top-down cognitive regulations is associated with the development of psychotic symptoms in PD, similarly to that proposed in the ‘aberrant salience hypothesis’ of psychosis in schizophrenia.

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Is There an Association Between Body Uneasyness and Aberrant Salience in Anorexic Patients? a Preliminary Study

10.26226/morressier.5885d719d462b8028d892b07 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Luca Mallardo

Keyword(s):

Aberrant Salience ◽

Preliminary Study

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Moment-to-moment Associations Between Emotional Disturbances, Aberrant Salience, and Persecutory Delusions

10.26226/morressier.5885d717d462b8028d891b04 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Suzanne H. So

Keyword(s):

Emotional Disturbances ◽

Persecutory Delusions ◽

Aberrant Salience

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Jumping to conclusions in persistent pain using a somatosensory modification of the beads task

Journal of Psychosomatic Research ◽

10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.109819 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 126 ◽

pp. 109819

Author(s):

C. Parkes ◽

O. Bezzina ◽

A. Chapman ◽

A. Luteran ◽

M.H. Freeston ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Persistent Pain ◽

Jumping To Conclusions ◽

Beads Task

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LSD, madness and healing: Mystical experiences as possible link between psychosis model and therapy model

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291721002531 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Isabel Wießner ◽

Marcelo Falchi ◽

Fernanda Palhano-Fontes ◽

Amanda Feilding ◽

Sidarta Ribeiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ◽

Psychotic Experience ◽

Creative Imagination ◽

Double Blind ◽

Alteration Of Consciousness ◽

Therapy Model ◽

Aberrant Salience ◽

Mystical Experiences ◽

Meaning Attribution

Abstract Background For a century, psychedelics have been investigated as models of psychosis for demonstrating phenomenological similarities with psychotic experiences and as therapeutic models for treating depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. This study sought to explore this paradoxical relationship connecting key parameters of the psychotic experience, psychotherapy, and psychedelic experience. Methods In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, 24 healthy volunteers received 50 μg d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or inactive placebo. Psychotic experience was assessed by aberrant salience (Aberrant Salience Inventory, ASI), therapeutic potential by suggestibility (Creative Imagination Scale, CIS) and mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, FFMQ; Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, MAAS; Experiences Questionnaire, EQ), and psychedelic experience by four questionnaires (Altered State of Consciousness Questionnaire, ASC; Mystical Experiences Questionnaire, MEQ; Challenging Experiences Questionnaire, CEQ; Ego-Dissolution Inventory, EDI). Relationships between LSD-induced effects were examined. Results LSD induced psychedelic experiences, including alteration of consciousness, mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and mildly challenging experiences, increased aberrant salience and suggestibility, but not mindfulness. LSD-induced aberrant salience correlated highly with complex imagery, mystical experiences, and ego-dissolution. LSD-induced suggestibility correlated with no other effects. Individual mindfulness changes correlated with aspects of aberrant salience and psychedelic experience. Conclusions The LSD state resembles a psychotic experience and offers a tool for healing. The link between psychosis model and therapeutic model seems to lie in mystical experiences. The results point to the importance of meaning attribution for the LSD psychosis model and indicate that psychedelic-assisted therapy might benefit from therapeutic suggestions fostering mystical experiences.

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Was This in Your Statistics Textbook? IV. Frequency Data

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479700016392 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 11-25

Author(s):

D. J. Finney

Keyword(s):

Statistical Analysis ◽

Contingency Tables ◽

The Other ◽

Frequency Data ◽

Significance Tests ◽

Test Statistic ◽

Jumping To Conclusions ◽

Proper Role ◽

Measure Of Association

SUMMARYObservations that are frequencies rather than measurements often call for special types of statistical analysis. This paper comments on circumstances in which methods for one type of data can sensibly be used for the other. A section on two-way contingency tables emphasizes the proper role of χ2 a test statistic but not a measure of association; it mentions the distinction between one-tail and two-tail significance tests and reminds the reader of dangers. Multiway tables bring new complications, and the problems of interactions when additional classificatory factors are explicit or hidden are discussed at some length. A brief outline attempts to show how probit, logit, and similar techniques are related to the analysis of contingency tables. Finally, three unusual examples are described as illustrations of the care that is needed to avoid jumping to conclusions on how frequency data should be analysed.

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