ArticleCognitive neuropsychiatry2016
The doxastic shear pin: delusions as errors of learning and memory.
Article in Cognitive neuropsychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- A review and integration of models on delusion maintenance.Psychological medicine · 2026Review
- Neurobiological illness models of schizophrenia and stigma reduction: has that ship sailed?Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Article
- Resolving the Delusion Paradox.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Review
- Paranoia, self-deception and overconfidence.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Enhancing Psychosis Risk Prediction Through Computational Cognitive Neuroscience.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2020Article
- Are clinical delusions adaptive?Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science · 2019Review
- The Predictive Coding Account of Psychosis.Biological psychiatry · 2018Review
- Uncovering Capgras delusion using a large-scale medical records database.BJPsych open · 2017Article
- Embodiment and Schizophrenia: A Review of Implications and Applications.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2017Review
- A Predictive Coding Account of Psychotic Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2017Article
- Explaining Delusions: Reducing Uncertainty Through Basic and Computational Neuroscience.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2017Review
- Prediction error, ketamine and psychosis: An updated model.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2016Review
- Depressive delusions.Filosofia unisinos = Unisinos journal of philosophy · 2016Article
- The promises and pitfalls of applying computational models to neurological and psychiatric disorders.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
We reconsider delusions in terms of a "doxastic shear pin", a mechanism that errs so as to prevent the destruction of the machine (brain) and permit continued function (in an attenuated capacity). Delusions may disable flexible (but energetically expensive) inference. With each recall, delusions may be reinforced further and rendered resistant to contradiction. We aim to respond to deficit accounts of delusions - that delusions are only a problem without any benefit - by considering delusion formation and maintenance in terms of predictive coding. We posit that brains conform to a simple computational principle: to minimize prediction error (the mismatch between prior top-down expectation and current bottom-up input) across hierarchies of brain regions and psychological representation. Recent data suggest that delusions may form in the absence of constraining top-down expectations. Then, once formed, they become new priors that motivate other beliefs, perceptions, and actions by providing strong (sometimes overriding) top-down expectation. We argue that delusions form when the shear-pin breaks, permitting continued engagement with an overwhelming world, and ongoing function in the face of paralyzing difficulty. This crucial role should not be ignored when we treat delusions: we need to consider how a person will function in the world without them..
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.