Abstract

SANCHEZ, CAMILO. HOW TO UNDERSTAND DELUSIONS OF CONTROL? A CRITICAL REVIEW OF FRITH’S HYPOTHESIS. Ideas y Valores [online]. 2017, vol.66, suppl.3, pp.157-192. ISSN 0120-0062.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ideasyvalores.v66n3supl.66953.

Since 1980, C. D. Frith has been working on schizophrenia, and explaining central symptoms such as hallucinations, in an attempt to clarify the basic deficits of this mental disorder. Frith has put forth a hypothesis based on the concept of consciousness, and has been adjusting it alongside contemporary scientific developments. In first place, it begins with the use of neurocognitive models of motor control, according to which the deficit is attributable to the concept of efferent copy and its function. In second place, he updated the model by including neuroimaging evidence of attenuation in parietal activity, as a consequence of the efferent copy. In third place, he added the concept of sense of agency, and the social cognition component, trying to integrate to his proposal the patient's experience and the relevance of the inter-subjective aspect. The current paper, which critically reviews Frith's hypothesis, it's divided in four parts: First, the hypothesis' evolution is synthesized; second, the main arguments are summarized; third, the main critical points are presented; and, finally, some general conclusions are drawn.

Keywords : C. D. Frith; movement awareness; motor control; schizophrenia; delusions of control; voluntary movement; sense of agency.

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