Goal-Directed Action in those with Psychosis (G-DAP)

Schizophrenia affects around 1% of the Australian population, but as yet there are few clues as to the pathogenic mechanisms that underpin this devastating syndrome. Recent studies emphasise the important role that progressive changes in dopamine function prior to diagnosis play, which deserve further investigation. Decision-making is a behaviour governed by brain regions also implicated in psychosis and therefore, may represent an objective outcome sensitive to underlying dopamine alterations.

The G-DAP study is investigating decision-making using two cognitive tasks, outcome specific-devaluation and serial reversal learning, to establish the relationship between changes in cognition and psychotic symptoms. tasks in people with early psychosis as well as those who have persistent psychotic disorders. We also hypothesise that impairments in decision-making are present before psychosis onset and correlate with the severity of positive symptoms. Understanding when deficits emerge in the transition to schizophrenia will be vital for our understanding of the underlying neurobiology of schizophrenia.

Funded by
Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners (2019), Queensland Government (2016-2019), University of Queensland (2017)

Lead Investigators
Dr James Kesby
Associate Professor James Scott

Project Team
Alex Ryan
Dan Siskind
Shuichi Suetani