Dysmodularity: a neurocognitive model for schizophrenia

Abstract

Hoffman and McGlashan's introduction of the term neurodynamics prompts a neurocognitive account of schizophrenia along the same lines, called "dysmodularity." In cognitive terms dysmodularity describes an impairment in the function of specialized processors due to a breakdown in one of their prime attributes: informational encapsulation. In neural terms dysmodularity implies increased structural and functional connectivity, reduced anatomical specialization such as lateral asymmetries, and increased white matter in relation to gray. Reduced cortical pruning would be one mechanism for dysmodularity. This model is opposite to the excessive pruning model proposed by Hoffman and McGlashan, but we believe it is more firmly supported by the literature, including some articles in the same issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin (Vol. 19, No. 1, 1993).