The text concerns the role of emotions in delusion formation. Provided are definitions from DSM-V and DSM-IV-R and the problems found in those definitions. One of them, the problem of delusion formation, is described when providing cognitive theories of delusions. The core of the paper is a presentation of the emotional and affective disorders in delusions, especially Capgras delusion and Cotard delusion. The author provides a comparison of the kinds of delusions and the conclusions taken from neuroimaging studies. As a (...) result of the fact that an explanation of delusion formation focusing on emotional problems turns out to be insufficient, the author provides examples of the reasoning impairments which coexist with them. At the end of the article, some hypotheses are proposed concerning the role of emotions and reasoning in delusion formation and the relation between belief disorders and emotional disorders. (shrink)

Several studies about schizophrenia have shown a cognitive bias named “Jumping to Conclusions” , defined as a decision made quickly on the basis of little evidence that occurs in these patients when performing probabilistic reasoning paradigms. The main objective of this study is to compare JTC bias and BADE in patients with schizophrenia vs. participants with high/low schizotypy to understand the underlying mechanism of these cognitive biases. Probabilistic reasoning was assessed using a modified version of Drawing to Decision task. In (...) addition to the traditional parameters of this task , Draws to Decision , BADE) we also calculated new parameters, overall accuracy and one named Feedback Sensitivity which lower scores shows greater use of feedback. The results of the study suggest a context effect: in the cued condition, there were not main differences between groups. In the uncued condition, we found higher JTC bias at stage 1 for patients. At the same time, PR at first stages related positively with Feedback Sensitivity and negatively with accuracy for patients and high schizotypy participants . BADE seems unrelated to JTC bias and FS. The results are discussed in terms of JTC like as a clinical bias and whether patients with schizophrenia are less able to use feedback. (shrink)

Stanford Encyclopedia Entry on Delusions.