Clara Humpston

My main research interest focuses on the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations) in individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and also in individuals who do not fulfil any criteria for a clinical diagnosis; in particular I am interested in how these unusual experiences relate to distortions of one’s core sense of self and how they might arise from a cognitive neuropsychiatric point of view at different levels of abstraction and inference, incorporating concepts such as prediction error signalling and source-monitoring. With my background in pharmacology I am also interested in the role of dopamine in belief and/or delusion formation. In addition, I am very keen to explore the philosophical aspects of psychopathology, including the phenomenology of psychosis and self-disturbances.