Abstract
The neurosciences are generating new findings regarding genetic and neurobiological aspects of the pathophysiology of mental disorders. Especially, certain genetic risk factors like neuregulin-1 seem to predispose individuals to a psychotic phenotype beyond the limits of traditional classificatory boundaries between organic psychoses in Alzheimer’s disease, bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Little, however, is known about how such genetic risk factors actually confer an increased risk for psychosis in an individual patient. A gap between neuroscientific findings and psychopathological phenomena exists. The main hypothesis how this gap may be bridged is that mental disorders arise as a consequence of dysfunctions of normal mental functions. Modularity may provide a useful conceptual framework in that temporally and/or spatially stable neural circuits subserve certain physiological functions of the human brain, which become the target of pathophysiological effectors. The idea of a modular construction of the human brain is based on neurobiological evidence regarding the columnar architecture of the cerebral cortex, which provides certain elementary analytical functions. Modular dysfunctions may be assessed with methods of experimental psychopathology, in which subsystems of brain functions are tested with standardized experimental psychological techniques (functional psychopathology). The main questions here are how to define a module, and whether the classical neuroscientific definitions can be used to characterize higher integrative functions of the human brain.
Zusammenfassung
Die Neurowissenschaften generieren neue Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der Genetik und Neurobiologie psychischer Störungen. Einige Risikofaktoren wie Veränderungen im Neuregulin-1-Gen scheinen beispielsweise eher für einen psychotischen Phänotyp zu prädisponieren, der die klassischen Grenzen von Alzheimer-Erkrankung, der bipolaren affektiven Störung und der Schizophrenie überschreitet. Wenig ist allerdings über die pathophysiologischen Mechanismen in individuellen Patienten bekannt, über die solche genetischen Risikofaktoren das Psychose-Risiko erhöhen. Eine Lücke existiert zwischen den neurowissenschaftlichen Befunden und den psychopathologischen Manifestationen. Eine Hypothese zur Überbrückung dieser Lücke ist die Vorstellung, dass psychische Störungen die Folge einer Dysfunktion physiologischer Gehirnfunktionen sind. Modulariät ist ein nützliches konzeptuelles Rahmenwerk, in dem zeitlich oder räumlich stabile neuronale Schaltkreise, die bestimmte physiologische Funktionen erfüllen, das Ziel pathophysiologischer Effektor-Faktoren werden. Die Vorstellung eines modularen Aufbaus der Gehirnfunktionen basiert auf neurobiologischen Befunden zur kolumnalen Architektur des Kortex, die gewisse elementare analytische Funktionen sicherstellt. Störungen von Modulfunktionen können mittels Methoden der experimentellen Psychopathologie erfasst warden, bei der Subsysteme der Gehirnfunktion mit standardisierten experimentellen psychologischen Techniken überprüft werdern (funktionelle Psychopathologie). Die Hauptfragen sind wie Module definiert werden, und ob klassische neurowissenschaftliche Definitionen geeignet sind, um höhere integrative Hirnfunktionen zu charakterisieren.
Résumé
Les neurosciences génèrent de nouvelles découvertes en ce qui concerne les aspects génétiques et neurobiologiques de la pathophysiologie des désordres mentaux. Ainsi, il existe certains facteurs de risque génétiques comme la neuréguline-1 qui semble prédisposer les individus à un phénotype psychotique allant au-delà des frontières que la classification traditionnelle a établi entre les psychoses organiques de la maladie d’Alzheimer, le désordre affectif bipolaire et la schizophrénie. Cependant, les connaissances sur la manière dont ces de facteurs de risque augmentent les chances de développer une psychose chez le patient sont très minces. Il y a un décalage entre les découvertes neuroscientifiques et les phénomènes psychopathologiques. L’hypothèse principalement avancée pour réduire ce décalage propose que les troubles mentaux surgissent conséquemment à un disfonctionnement des fonctions cérébrales normales. La modularité pourrait fournir un cadre conceptuel utile puisque les circuits neuraux ayant une stabilité temporelle et/ou spatiale, favorisent les fonctions physiologiques du cerveau humain devenant la cible d’effecteurs pathophysiologiques. La conception d’une construction modulaire du cerveau humain est basée sur l’observation de l’architecture cylindrique du cortex cérébral qui permet les fonctions analytiques élémentaires. Les dysfonctions modulaires peuvent être étudiées par des méthodes de psychopathologie expérimentale au cours desquelles les sous-systèmes des fonctions du cerveau sont analysés grâce à des techniques psychologiques expérimentales standardisées (psychopathologie fonctionnelle). Les principales interrogations se portent sur la définition d’un module et sur la pertinence des définitions neuroscientifiques classiques pour caractériser les fonctions intégratives supérieures du cerveau humain.
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Zielasek, J., Gaebel, W. Modularity in philosophy, the neurosciences, and psychiatry. Poiesis Prax 6, 93–108 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10202-008-0065-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10202-008-0065-z