The neural underpinnings of cognitive flexibility and their disruption in psychotic illness

Schizophrenia (SZ) has long been associated with a variety of cognitive deficits, including reduced cognitive flexibility. More recent findings, however, point to tremendous inter-individual variability among patients on measures of cognitive flexibility/set-shifting. With an eye toward shedding light on potential sources of variability in set-shifting abilities among SZ patients, I examine the neural substrates of underlying probabilistic reversal learning (PRL) - a paradigmatic measure of cognitive flexibility - as well as neuromodulatory influences upon these systems. Finally, I report on behavioral and neuroimaging studies of PRL in SZ patients, discussing the potentially influences of illness profile and antipsychotic medications on cognitive flexibility in SZ.