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.