ASOP – At the Source of Psychosis

Source monitoring is the cognitive process that allows us to recognize the origin of our memories and thoughts. It is usually described in three main forms: external (recognizing whether information comes from the external environment and from which source), internal (distinguishing between thoughts, mental images, or words we have generated ourselves), and reality monitoring (separating experiences that were truly perceived from those only imagined). In psychosis, particularly in schizophrenia, this mechanism may be impaired: for example, an internal thought may be misattributed to an external voice, contributing to auditory hallucinations, or imagined memories may be experienced as real events. In short, difficulty in monitoring the source of one’s experiences plays a role in the characteristic symptoms of the illness.

The project aims to explore how source monitoring abilities manifest across different psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar disorders, substance use disorders) and how they interact with the perception of internal stimuli (e.g., heartbeat), external stimuli (e.g., vision, hearing), and the cognitive/attentional profile.