Many psychiatric conditions present complex behavioral symptoms, and the type and
magnitude of underlying neural dysfunction may vary drastically. This review introduces
a classification scheme for psychiatric symptoms, describing them in terms of the
state of a dysfunctional neural circuit. We provide examples of two kinds of functional
deficits: variance-shifted functionality, in which a damaged circuit continues to
function albeit suboptimally, and state-shifted functionality, resulting in an absent
or qualitatively different functional state. We discuss, from the perspective of neuroeconomics
and related areas of behavioral investigation, three broad classes of commonly occurring
symptoms in psychopathology based on selected studies of decision making in animals:
temporal discounting, social preferences, and decision making under environmental
volatility. We conclude that the proposed mechanistic categorization scheme offers
promise for understanding neural circuit dysfunctions underlying psychopathology.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 22, 2012
Accepted:
February 21,
2012
Received in revised form:
February 20,
2012
Received:
August 25,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
