Auditory acuity and musical ability in young adults with high schizotypal traits

Duration mismatch negativity under varying deviant conditions in individuals with high schizotypal traits

Background

Although impaired auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) has consistently been found in individuals with schizophrenia, there are few and inconsistent reports on nonclinical individuals with schizotypy. To date, no studies have thoroughly assessed MMN with different degrees of deviant oddballs in nonclinical schizotypal samples. The aim of this study was to examine the extent of duration MMN (dMMN) amplitudes under two deviant duration conditions (large and small) in nonclinical participants with high schizotypal traits.

Methods

An extreme-group design was utilized, in which 63 participants from the schizotypy and control groups were selected from a pool of 1519 young adults using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). MMN was measured using passive duration oddball paradigms. Basic demographic information and musical backgrounds were assessed and matched, while depression and anxiety were evaluated and controlled for. The repeated measures analysis of covariance was utilized to evaluate differences in dMMN between groups. The Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple comparisons. Partial correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association between dMMN amplitudes and SPQ scores.

Results

The amplitudes of dMMN at Cz were significantly increased under the large deviance condition in nonclinical schizotypal individuals (F = 4.36, p = .04). Large-deviance dMMN amplitudes at Fz were positively correlated with mild cognitive-perceptual symptoms in the control group (rp = .42, p = .03). However, as schizophrenia-like symptoms worsened and approached the clinical threshold for schizophrenia, small-deviance dMMN amplitudes at Cz showed negative associations with the cognitive-perceptual factor in the schizotypy group (rp = -.40, p = .04).

Conclusion

These results suggest the importance of considering the degree of deviation in duration when implementing the auditory oddball paradigm among nonclinical participants with schizotypal traits. In addition, our findings reveal a potential non-linear relationship between bottom-up auditory processing and the positive dimension of the schizophrenia spectrum.

Auditory P300 in individuals with high schizotypy: associations of schizotypal traits with amplitude and latency under different oddball conditions

Background

The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of auditory P300 between non-clinical individuals with high and low schizotypal traits, and investigate the relationship between schizotypy and P300 under various oddball conditions.

Methods

An extreme-group design was adopted. After screening 1,519 young adults using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), sixty-three participants were chosen and divided into two groups (schizotypy group: 31 participants; control group: 32 participants). Basic demographic information was assessed and matched between groups. Depression and anxiety indexes were evaluated and controlled. The P300 component was evoked by an auditory oddball paradigm with different frequencies and durations.

Results

(1) The duration P300 amplitude at PZ site was significantly weaker in the schizotypy group than in the control group [F(1,54) = 7.455, p = 0.009, η_p² = 0.121]. (2) In the schizotypy group, the latency of frequency P300 at PZ site under large-variant oddball condition was significantly correlated with total SPQ scores (r_p = 0.451, p = 0.018) and disorganized dimension scores (r_p = 0.381, p = 0.050). (3) In the control group, significantly negative correlations was found between the negative dimension score of SPQ and the frequency P300 amplitudes under small variant condition (PZ: r_p = -0.393, p = 0.043; CPZ: r_p = -0.406, p = 0.035). In addition, a significant negative relationship was found between disorganized dimension scores and the duration P300 latency at CPZ site under large-variant oddball condition (r_p = -0.518, p = 0.006). Moreover, a significant negative association was found between the duration P300 amplitude at CPZ site under small-variant oddball condition and negative factor scores (r_p = -0.410, p = 0.034).

Conclusion

Individuals with high schizotypal traits were likely to have deficient attention and hypoactive working memory for processing auditory information, especially the duration of sounds. P300 effects were correlated with negative and disorganized schizotypy, rather than positive schizotypy. There were diverse patterns of relationship between schizotypal traits and P300 under different oddball conditions, suggesting that characteristics and parameters of target stimuli should be considered cautiously when implementing an auditory oddball paradigm for individuals with schizophrenia spectrum.

Proactive and reactive cognitive control for emotional conflict in individuals with high schizotypy: An ERP study

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to examine how individuals with high schizotypy, a high risk group of schizophrenia patients, resolve emotional conflict in proactive and reactive control and the underlying neural mechanisms.

METHODS

Thirty-two individuals with high schizotypy and 30 matched individuals with low schizotypy completed an emotional face-word Stroop task with electroencephalographic data recorded. The proportion of incongruent trials was manipulated in the task to induce proactive control (mostly incongruent trials context, MI context) or reactive control (mostly congruent trials context, MC context). Two event-related potential (ERP) components (N170 and N2) were examined, which represent face processing and cognitive control processes, respectively.

RESULTS

In the MC context, significantly decreased N2 and N170 amplitudes were found in high schizotypy individuals compared with low schizotypy individuals, suggesting abnormal neural activity of reactive control in high schizotypy individuals. No significant differences were found between the two groups in the MI context.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide initial evidence for dissociation of neural activity of proactive and reactive control on emotional conflict in individuals with high schizotypy.

SIGNIFICANCE

The current findings provide important insight into the emotional conflict resolution in the schizophrenia spectrum.