Raihani, NJ;
Kamboj, SK;
Peniket, MJ;
Norman, J;
Ozturk, OC;
Iskandar, G;
Bell, V;
(2023)
The effects of paranoia and dopamine on perception of cohesion and conspiracy: a pre-registered, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment.
Psychopharmacology
10.1007/s00213-023-06476-7.
(In press).
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Abstract
Paranoia is a common symptom of psychotic disorders but is also present on a spectrum of severity in the general population. Although paranoia is associated with an increased tendency to perceive cohesion and conspiracy within groups, the mechanistic basis of this variation remains unclear. One potential avenue involves the brain’s dopaminergic system, which is known to be altered in psychosis. In this study, we used large-N online samples to establish the association between trait paranoia and perceptions of cohesion and conspiracy. We further evaluated the role of dopamine on perceptions of cohesion and conspiracy using a double-blind, placebo-controlled laboratory experiment where participants received levodopa or a placebo control. Our results were mixed: group perceptions and perceptions of cohesion were higher among more paranoid individuals but were not altered under dopamine administration. We outline the potential reasons for these discrepancies and the broader implications for understanding paranoia in terms of dopamine dysregulation.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The effects of paranoia and dopamine on perception of cohesion and conspiracy: a pre-registered, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00213-023-06476-7 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06476-7 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Paranoia · Conspiracy · Dopamine · Cohesion |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10179299 |
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