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Schizophrenia – a disorder of the corollary discharge systems that integrate the motor systems of thought with the sensory systems of consciousness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Irwin Feinberg  and
Mario Guazzelli
Irwin Feinberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Mario Guazzelli
Affiliation:
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
*
Irwin Feinberg, VA/UCD Sleep Lab, TB148, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Abstract

Background

In spite of intensive research, no causal anatomical lesion has been found in schizophrenia. It may instead be caused by malfunctioning circuits in the corollary discharge, feed forward (CD–FF) systems of thought.

Aims

To integrate with the CD–FF hypothesis recent data showing that subcortical motor systems participate in thinking.

Methods

We review CD–FF concepts in relation to recent evidence that ‘motor’ brain structures participate in cognitive processing.

Results

Malfunctioning of CD–FF systems that integrate thinking and consciousness could produce auditory hallucinations, delusions and disorganised thought.

Conclusions

We hypothesise that the pathophysiology of schizophrenia lies in integrative circuits of basal ganglia, thalamus and frontal cortex. Fruitful research directions would include elucidation of CD–FF circuits at even higher brain levels, the behaviour of these circuits during dreaming, and their responses to late maturational events including synaptic elimination.

Type
Review Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 174 , Issue 3 , March 1999 , pp. 196 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

∗

This paper is dedicated to Edward V. Evarts and Giuseppe Moruzzi, two of the great neurophysiologists of the 20th century. Themselves friends, each combined meticulous experimentation and rigorous analysis with a willingness to contemplate, in a disciplined way, the profound problem of brain and consciousness. I. F. and M. G. were privileged to study with Evarts and Moruzzi, respectively.

Declaration of interest

No commercial organisation supported this work.

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