The phase space of meaning model of psychopathology: A computer simulation modelling study

Introduction The hypothesis of a general psychopathology factor that underpins all common forms of mental disorders has been gaining momentum in contemporary clinical research and is known as the p factor hypothesis. Recently, a semiotic, embodied, and psychoanalytic conceptualisation of the p factor has been proposed called the Harmonium Model, which provides a computational account of such a construct. This research tested the core tenet of the Harmonium model, which is the idea that psychopathology can be conceptualised as due to poorly-modulable cognitive processes, and modelled the concept of Phase Space of Meaning (PSM) at the computational level. Method Two studies were performed, both based on a simulation design implementing a deep learning model, simulating a cognitive process: a classification task. The level of performance of the task was considered the simulated equivalent to the normality-psychopathology continuum, the dimensionality of the neural network’s internal computational dynamics being the simulated equivalent of the PSM’s dimensionality. Results The neural networks’ level of performance was shown to be associated with the characteristics of the internal computational dynamics, assumed to be the simulated equivalent of poorly-modulable cognitive processes. Discussion Findings supported the hypothesis. They showed that the neural network’s low performance was a matter of the combination of predicted characteristics of the neural networks’ internal computational dynamics. Implications, limitations, and further research directions are discussed.