Imagine yourself passing through a spacious library with books holding your lifetime experiences, thoughts, and memories on their pages. This repository is organised by a web of connections between each section, so no detail is missed. These are our “cognitive maps"—the structured internal representations of the relationships between things. This grand library seems to lose its once-clear boundaries as schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting millions around the world, blurs the bou

Researchers have developed AI-based tools that can identify subtle speech patterns in schizophrenia patients. This approach, described in a study in PNAS, aims to enhance the diagnostic precision currently relying mainly on patient conversations. In tests involving verbal fluency tasks, the AI model was less predictable in patients with schizophrenia, especially those with severe symptoms. This unpredictability is believed to be connected to ‘cognitive maps’ in the brain. The team aims to further evaluate this technology’s clinical efficacy in the coming years.