Novel Computational Neuropsychiatry Model for Understanding Psychosis: Tonic–Phasic Dopamine Biregulation
Open MIND March 5, 2026 Evangelos-Konstantinos Georgantas
Psychosis can be understood as a dynamical instability in dopaminergic regulation rather than a simple excess of dopamine signaling. The model formalizes the interaction between tonic dopamine baseline, phasic dopamine responses to environmental stimuli, and attentional reinforcement within a closed feedback loop. When tonic dopamine regulation is insufficient, phasic dopamine responses become disproportionately amplified, producing a positive feedback loop that progressively increases the perceived salience of neutral stimuli. Once this imbalance crosses a cortical gating threshold associated with prefrontal inhibitory control, the system enters a persistent instability regime corresponding to psychotic salience attribution. The model integrates aberrant salience theory, predictive coding frameworks, and dynamical systems approaches.