Priya has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. While she is travelling on a bus, a routine recorded announcement is played. Priya becomes firmly convinced that the announcement contains a secret warning intended only for her, even after she is shown that every passenger heard the same message.
A psychologist suggests that, at some dopamine synapses in Priya's brain, dopamine stays in the synapse for longer than normal after each impulse.
State the name of the process by which dopamine is pulled back into the sending neuron to clear the synapse.
Explain how dopamine staying in the synapse for longer than normal could lead to Priya's belief about the announcement.
144 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 3.2 Theories/Explanations, covering 3.2.1 Clinical characteristics of schizophrenia, 3.2.2 Key statistics of schizophrenia, 3.2.3 Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, 3.2.4 Brain structure and function in schizophrenia; criticisms, 3.2.5 Social drift theory of schizophrenia, 3.2.6 Schizophrenia research study: Daniel et al. (1991), 3.2.7 Clinical characteristics of clinical depression, 3.2.8 Key statistics of clinical depression, 3.2.9 Social rank theory of clinical depression, 3.2.10 ABC Model of clinical depression, and 3.2.11 Clinical Depression research study: Tandoc et al. (2015). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.