The phase space of meaning model of psychopathology: A computer simulation modelling study

Abstract

Introduction The hypothesis of a general psychopathology factor that underpins all common forms of mental disorders has been gaining momentum in contemporary clinical research and is known as the p factor hypothesis. Recently, a semiotic, embodied, and psychoanalytic conceptualisation of the p factor has been proposed called the Harmonium Model, which provides a computational account of such a construct. This research tested the core tenet of the Harmonium model, which is the idea that psychopathology can be conceptualised as due to poorly-modulable cognitive processes, and modelled the concept of Phase Space of Meaning (PSM) at the computational level. Method Two studies were performed, both based on a simulation design implementing a deep learning model, simulating a cognitive process: a classification task. The level of performance of the task was considered the simulated equivalent to the normality-psychopathology continuum, the dimensionality of the neural network’s internal computational dynamics being the simulated equivalent of the PSM’s dimensionality. Results The neural networks’ level of performance was shown to be associated with the characteristics of the internal computational dynamics, assumed to be the simulated equivalent of poorly-modulable cognitive processes. Discussion Findings supported the hypothesis. They showed that the neural network’s low performance was a matter of the combination of predicted characteristics of the neural networks’ internal computational dynamics. Implications, limitations, and further research directions are discussed.

Affective Saturation Index: A Lexical Measure of Affect

“…At the level of the individual, low dimensional semiotic spaces have proven to be associated with proxies of affective activation-e.g., higher response speed to evaluation tasks and a tendency to characterize semantically distinct social objects in homogeneous ways [63]; a high need for closure and a highly negative attitude towards foreigners [21]; and a lower tendency to explore the marginal area of the attentional perception field [63]. Finally, the geometrical model of meaning outlined above was recently used by some of the present authors to frame a computational model of the form of meaning-making underpinning psychopathology-the Harmonium Model [6]. In a subsequent work, the Harmonium Model was tested by means of a simulation based on a neural network deep learning procedure.…”

“…Two core points of the PSM are relevant here (for a theoretical discussion, cf. [45]; for a computational model, see [6]). First, PSM dimensionality requires modulation as a function of the contextual conditions.…”

“…Affect plays a central role in how individuals make sense of experience [1][2][3] as well as in how executive [4] and higher-order cognitive processes [5] operate. A high level of affect intensity is associated with psychopathological conditions [6][7][8] as well as maladjusted forms of behaviors, such as gambling [9][10][11][12] or academic dropout [13]; again, the elaboration of affect and the mode of variation of its intensity within and throughout sessions is a core focus of the analysis of the psychotherapeutic process and clinical change [14][15][16][17][18]. Affect is also involved in psychosocial and socio-political phenomena.…”