Cognitive maps and schizophrenia
The brain’s ability to build structured models (cognitive maps) of the environment is central for adaptive cognition and behavior.
Recent work across theoretical and cognitive neuroscience reveals neural and algorithmic mechanisms of map construction.
This work highlights roles for neural attractor dynamics in hippocampal complex and prefrontal cortex and a key contribution of early life environment.
A cognitive mapping hypothesis of schizophrenia states that both neurophysiological abnormalities and environmental risk factors (psychosocial stressors) cause symptoms by impinging on cognitive mapping processes (e.g., through neural attractor instability and biased structure learning, respectively).
Preclinical and clinical studies in schizophrenia point to aberrant cognitive mapping, with potential involvement of hippocampal complex.
https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00254-7
