Are mind pops more frequent in depressed/non clinical patients or schizophrenic patients?

Tenina Jenkins April 14, 2014

Have you ever been brushing your teeth or as youre driving a word, saying, or an image just pops into your head?

These sudden thoughts are called mind pops

What are mind pops?

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Random fragments of a persons semantic memory

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Semantic memories are memories of concepts, facts, names, and other general knowledge

Occurs without the person trying to recall the memory Can come into a persons mind repeatedly

What are the similarities between mind pops and hallucinations?

Can occur when waking up

Can occur when a person is awake or alone

Mind pops and Hallucinations

Can occur as a person is falling asleep

Can occur as single words or phrases

Are mind pops more frequent in schizophrenia patients?

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Research
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Completed by Elua and associates in 2012

Objective
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Determine if individuals with schizophrenia experienced more mind pops compared to depressed and non clinical patients

Are mind pops more frequent in schizophrenia patients?

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Experimental Design
Generated Mind Pope Questionnaire (MPQ)

Issued MPQ to schizophrenia patients, depressed patients, and non clinical patients

Based on MPQ evaluated the frequency and different types of mind pops experienced between the groups

What did their research reveal?

Clinical and non clinical patients both experienced mind pops The mind pops were found to be more common in schizophrenia patients
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Patients also experienced a wider range of different types of mind pops

The future of mind pop research

Scientists are now working to determine if there is a link between mind pops and hallucinations
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Compare mind pop frequency between schizophrenia patients who are or have had hallucinations to schizophrenia patients who have not had any previous history of hallucinations