Salience and dysregulation of the dopaminergic system

Abstract

Psychosis is a subjective and experiential phenomenon of the mind, influenced by cognitive and socio-cultural patterns of the individual. The neurobiological correlate of this phenomenon is the dysfunction of brain dopaminergic pathways. This article reviews the scientific evidence on the theoretical approaches of the dopaminergic hypothesis of psychosis and its relationship with the reward and salience systems. The aberrant salience occurs when the dysregulation of dopamine transmission produces a mistaken interpretation of neutral or irrelevant stimuli as a source of reward or punishment. Advances in neuroscience achieved in the last decade have led to the conceptualization of the constructs of visual, social and emotional salience, to test the hypothesis of aberrant salience in psychosis. Psychosis appears, therefore, as a trans-nosological pathological process, relatively nonspecific, which alters the attribution system of reality.