Computational Psychiatry: New Eyes for Old Problems

Abstract

Computational psychiatry is a framework that uses mathematical modelling to interrogate core concepts like delusions and hallucinations. Data driven approaches classify mental illnesses cutting through the diagnostic heterogeneity while theory driven approaches try to elucidate the mechanistic heterogeneity. At the level of networks or connectomics, aberrations in the modular organization of the brain leads to mental ill-health. Parsing the bottom up and the top down pathways of visual and auditory perceptions leads to a deeper understanding of the functioning of the mind. And finally, prediction error mediated by dopamine and aberrant salience remains at the core of delusions.