Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

DSM and ICD classifications fail by design to properly address the biological dimension of mental disorders. A newapproach has been emerging that aims to examine abnormal brain functioning from a different standpoint, inclusive ofbiological mechanisms, crossing the boundaries between currently classified disorders and eventually redefining themunder a new diagnostic framework.We have been investigating associations between biological structures and mechanisms, behavioral traits, and correspond-ing biologically plausible SOM (Self-Organizing Map) computational structures and mechanisms in two neurodevelop-mental disorders, autism and schizophrenia, that are classified as entirely different disorders. Based on the cognitivemodeling work conducted so far, important neurocomputational functional and structural similarities, at the behavioraland cognitive levels, have been pinpointed between these disorders. It is an open question to what extent the currentclassification of these disorders remains relevant at the level of causal and epigenetic neurodevelopmental mechanisms, aswell as the implications for future research.