Scientists Find That Computers With Schizophrenia Think Like Humans With Schizophrenia

Infecting a virus on your computer is a surefire way to make it go crazy, but what happens if you afflict it with schizophrenia?
A team of researchers at the University of Texas did exactly that, attempting to investigate the mechanisms of schizophrenia in patients by modeling the illness on a computer. They found that elevated levels of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s reward and pleasure center, could cause the brain to lose the normal ability to forget or ignore stimuli and become overwhelmed, unable to piece together a coherent story.
Their schizophrenic computer model consisted of a neural network called DISCERN that is able to learn natural language. They taught DISCERN a series of simple stories, which were stored into DISCERN’s memory in much the same way that the human brain stores information. For the schizophrenia model, the researchers trained DISCERN with the same stories a second time. However, they simulated an excess release of dopamine by increasing DISCERN’s rate of learning, analogous to making it stop forgetting information.
The result was that DISCERN would generate delusional, practically nonsensical stories: random disassociated sentences and jumps from first- to third-person. In one instance, DISCERN even claimed responsibility for a terrorist bombing!
While the results aren’t solid evidence for the mechanisms of schizophrenia, UT researchers are hopeful that the results could lead to the increased use of virtual models to study neurological disorders.
Article from UT-Austin: Scientists Afflict Computers with Schizophrenia to Better Understand the Human Brain…
Project website: Neural Network Models of Schizophrenic Language
Journal abstract: Using computational patients to evaluate illness mechanisms in schizophrenia
Image credit: Wellcome Images …