Abstract
People suffering from schizophrenia, depression and other severe mental illnesses often suffer from cognitive problems. In most people, these problems persists after the major symptomatic episode is over, and in some cases cognitive problems also preceded an episode. Unfortunately, even after symptomatic remission, full recovery of cognitive functions often does not occur, thereby severely and enduringly impeding daily life functioning. Although it’s recognized in the field of psychiatry and psychology that these cognitive problems persist, there is little mechanistic understanding of how these problems arose and persist. We believe that this lack of a mechanistic understanding severely hampers mitigation of these residual problems and limits the ability for stable remission and potential for rebuilding a fulfilling live. In this perspective paper, we introduce a model inspired by behavioural economics that focuses on the decision making process underpinning cognitive control allocation. With this model we conceptualize the situational inability to engage in enduring and/or demanding cognitive daily life tasks, as a consequence of aberrant/maladaptive decision-making. We integrate insights from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology with practices of cognitive remediation in the field of severe mental illness. With this multidisciplinary approach, we offer hypotheses on how widely available therapies could be used to boost cognitive functioning following mental illness.