Challenging the standard paradigm of schizophrenia research

(© Image: Depositphotos) - Analyzing EEG measurements of almost two hundred schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, researchers at EPFL now challenge the standard paradigm underlying research in the field. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that impairs a person's ability to think, feel, and behave, often making them seem that they have "lost touch with reality". Although we don't know the exact causes of schizophrenia, scientist think it may arise through a combination of genetics, environmental factors, and problems with the brain's chemistry and structure. Still, most researchers in the field tend to focus on a single paradigm that allows them to establish clear-cut differences between people with schizophrenia symptoms ("patients") and people without them ("controls"). Researchers attempt to uncover the genetic, neurophysiological, and cognitive mechanisms that might underlie the abnormalities of schizophrenia patients in this specific paradigm. This is what is known as a deep-rooting approach to understanding schizophrenia. "In many experimental paradigms, the differences between patients and controls have large effect sizes," says Professor Michael Herzog at EPFL's School of Life Sciences.