Cited by 201Schizophrenia research and treatmentNeural dynamics and brain functionMental Health and Psychiatry

Circular inferences in schizophrenia

Jardri, Renaud, Denève, Sophie·2013·Brain

Abstract

A considerable number of recent experimental and computational studies suggest that subtle impairments of excitatory to inhibitory balance or regulation are involved in many neurological and psychiatric conditions. The current paper aims to relate, specifically and quantitatively, excitatory to inhibitory imbalance with psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. Considering that the brain constructs hierarchical causal models of the external world, we show that the failure to maintain the excitatory to inhibitory balance results in hallucinations as well as in the formation and subsequent consolidation of delusional beliefs. Indeed, the consequence of excitatory to inhibitory imbalance in a hierarchical neural network is equated to a pathological form of causal inference called 'circular belief propagation'. In circular belief propagation, bottom-up sensory information and top-down predictions are reverberated, i.e. prior beliefs are misinterpreted as sensory observations and vice versa. As a result, these predictions are counted multiple times. Circular inference explains the emergence of erroneous percepts, the patient's overconfidence when facing probabilistic choices, the learning of 'unshakable' causal relationships between unrelated events and a paradoxical immunity to perceptual illusions, which are all known to be associated with schizophrenia.

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Crossref · 10.1093/brain/awt257

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  • This model and variants thereof have already found widespread application to other psychiatric disorders with perceptual aberrations, in particular schizophrenia.

    “This model, and variants thereof, has already found widespread application to other psychiatric disorders with perceptual aberrations, in particular schizophrenia (63, 89, 90, 92, 107).”
  • Scaling down inhibition or scaling up excitation in a computational model results in a pathological form of inference called circular belief propagation.

    “Scaling down inhibition (or scaling up excitation) in such a computational model results in a pathological form of inference called “circular belief propagation,” in which “bottom-up” and “top-down” messages are reverberated and taken into account multiple times.145”
  • Hallucinations have been proposed to originate primarily from the reverberation of bottom-up messages, leading to an overinterpretation of sensory evidence.

    “In this line, hallucinations have been proposed to originate primarily from the reverberation of “bottomup” messages, leading to an overinterpretation of the sensory evidence.145”

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Authors
Jardri, R., & Denève, S.
Affiliations
Inserm (FR)
Venue
Brain
Published
2013-09-21
Volume
136
Issue
11
Pages
3227-3241
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
OpenAlex
W2096073681
Cited by
201
References
98
Citations by year
2026: 21 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 2
FWCI
9.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
Keywords
schizophrenia, excitatory-inhibitory imbalance, hallucinations, delusions, causal inference, top-down prediction, reverberation, perceptual illusions
MeSH terms
Bayes Theorem, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition Disorders, Delusions, Hallucinations, Humans, Models, Neurological, Nerve Net, Schizophrenia

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