Abstract

Delusions are implausible beliefs that are held maintained in the face of (for most people) obvious evidence to the contrary. Together with hallucinations they constitute the positive features of psychosis, a mental illness that refers to losing touch with reality.

In my talk, I will review recent accounts of the inference processes underlying the formation and maintenance of delusions and propose a new computational account explaining how people can both show large flexibility (when forming a delusion), and rigidity (when presented with evidence contradicting the delusion) in their beliefs.

About the speaker

Tore Erdmann, PhD candidate in Cognitive Neuroscience Program
SISSA, Trieste, Italy