Cited by 18Schizophrenia research and treatmentFunctional Brain Connectivity StudiesMental Health and Psychiatry

World/self ambivalence: a shared mechanism in different subsets of psychotic experiences? Linking symptoms with resting-state fMRI

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Damiani, Stefano, Fusar-Poli, Laura, Brondino, Natascia, Provenzani, Umberto, Baldwin, Helen, Fusar-Poli, Paolo, Politi, Pierluigi·2020·Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging

Abstract

The psychosis spectrum comprises heterogeneous disorders characterized by both world-related and self-related symptoms. How these symptoms may arise with similar features in spite of the different aetiologies is yet an unsolved question. In behavior narrative review, we compare three conditions characterized by psychotic experiences (schizophrenia, substance-use disorder and sensory-deprivation) searching for links between their phenomenological features and the mechanisms underlying their onset. Clinically, psychotic experiences are characterized by the reciprocal contamination of world- and self-related contents, termed 'world/self ambivalence'. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that the imbalance between stimuli-, self-, and attention-related functional networks (visual/auditory, default-mode, and salience network respectively) assumes central relevance in all the conditions considered. Phenomenology and neurobiology were thus interrelated in light of the reviewed literature, identifying two key neuronal mechanisms which may lead to world/self ambivalence. First, psychotic experiences are associated with the relative dominance of one network over the other (default-mode over auditory/visual networks, or vice-versa), prompting an excess of internal or external pressure to the experienced ambivalence between world and self. Second, an altered salience network resting-state functional connectivity could generate a dysregulation of the attentive fluctuations from self- to world-related activity, thus blurring the boundary between the environment and oneself, labelled the 'world/self boundary'.

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  • Psychotic-like states, and thus predictive coding impairments, can also be induced by administering ketamine to healthy individuals.

    “Psychotic-like states, and thus predictive coding impairments can also be induced by adminis­ tering ketamine to healthy individuals (Damiani et al., 2020).”

    From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Damiani et al., 2020

    Section 6.2.2 discusses substance-induced psychotic experiences and associated changes in resting-state connectivity. It names LSD, MDMA, ayahuasca and psilocybin, but does not establish that ketamine induces psychotic-like states in healthy individuals or that it impairs predictive coding. Searches for ketamine and predictive coding found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Deegan, P., 1994. A letter to my friend who is giving up. Journal of the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill 5, 18-20.

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Authors
Damiani, S., Fusar-Poli, L., Brondino, N., Provenzani, U., Baldwin, H., Fusar-Poli, P., & Politi, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Pavia (IT)
  • National Health Service (GB)
Corresponding author
Damiani, Stefano
Venue
Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-05
Volume
299
Pages
111068
ISSN
0925-4927 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3011953627
Cited by
18
References
101
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
FWCI
0.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR-INF-0779)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
Keywords
psychotic experiences, schizophrenia, substance use disorders, sensory deprivation, resting-state functional connectivity, default mode network, salience network, psychosis spectrum
MeSH terms
Affect, Attention, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurons, Product Labeling, Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia, Neuroimaging

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