Positive schizotypy scores correlate with left visual field interference for negatively valenced emotional words: A lateralized emotional Stroop study

The subjective-objective deficit paradox in schizotypy extends to emotion regulation and awareness

There is an emerging subjective-objective deficit paradox in schizotypy. Individuals with schizotypy report severe subjective complaints in several key functional domains commensurate with that of individuals with schizophrenia. However, objective assessments of the same domains show relatively intact performance. We examined whether this subjective-objective deficit paradox extends to two closely linked affective processes: emotion regulation and awareness. Individuals with elevated social anhedonia (SocAnh; n = 61) and elevated perceptual aberration/magical ideation (PerMag; n = 73) were compared to control participants (n = 81) on subjective and objective measures of emotion regulation and awareness. Subjective measures included self-report questionnaires assessing regulatory ability, attention to emotion, and emotional clarity. Implicit emotion regulation was assessed by the Emotion Regulation-Implicit Association Test (ER-IAT) while objective emotional awareness was assessed by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), a performance-based test. Results showed that both SocAnh and PerMag groups reported notable deficits in almost all subjective measures relative to controls (composite ds > 0.55). In contrast, performance on ER-IAT and LEAS was very similar to controls (composite ds < 0.11). The current study suggests that the subjective-objective deficit paradox extends to emotion regulation and awareness, highlighting the importance of higher-order cognitive bias in understanding emotional abnormalities in schizotypy.

Schizotypy and specificity of negative emotions on an emotional Stroop paradigm in the general population

Attentional-interference using emotional Stroop tasks (ESTs) is greater among individuals in the general population with positive (versus negative) schizotypal traits; specifically in response to negatively (versus positively) valenced words, potentially capturing threat-sensitivity. Variability in attentional-interference as a function of subcategories of negatively valenced words (and in relation to schizotypal traits) remains underexplored in EST studies. We examined attentional-interference across negative word subcategories (fear/anger/sadness/disgust), and in relation to positive schizotypy, among non-clinical individuals in the general population reporting varying degrees of schizotypal traits. As hypothesized, performance differed across word subcategories, though the pattern varied from expectation. Attentional-interference was greater for fear and sadness compared to anger; and analogous for fear, disgust, and sadness. In the high schizotypy group, positive schizotypal traits were directly associated with attentional-interference to disgust. Attentional-interference was comparable between high- and low-positive schizotypy. Results suggest negative emotion subcategories may differentially reflect threat-sensitivity. Disgust-sensitivity may be particularly salient in (non-clinical) positive schizotypy. Findings have implications for understanding negative emotion specificity and variability in stimulus presentation modality when studying threat-related attentional-interference. Finally, disgust-related attentional-interference may serve as a cognitive correlate of (non-clinical) positive schizotypy. Expanding this research to prodromal populations will help explore disgust-related attentional-interference as a potential cognitive marker of positive symptoms.

Associations between schizotypy and cerebral laterality

Atypical lateralization for language has been found in schizophrenia, suggesting that language and thought disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum may be due to left hemispheric dysfunction. However, research with those with non-clinical schizotypy has been inconsistent, with some studies finding reduced or reversed language laterality (particularly with positive schizotypal traits), and others finding typical left hemispheric specialization. The aim of the current study was to use both a behavioural (dual reading-finger tapping) task and an functional magnetic resonance imaging lexical decision task to investigate language laterality in a university sample of high- and low-schizotypal adults. Findings revealed no evidence for atypical lateralization in our sample for both overall schizotypy (measured by the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences) and positive schizotypy (measured by the Unusual Experiences subscale) groups. Our findings provide further evidence that non-clinical schizotypy is not associated with atypical language laterality.

Perception of emotion-related conflict in human communications: what are the effects of schizophrenia?

Our ability to make sense of emotional cues is of paramount importance for understanding state of mind and communicative intent. However, emotional cues often conflict with each other; this presents a significant challenge for people with schizophrenia. We conducted a theoretical review to determine the extent and types of impaired processing of emotion-related conflict in schizophrenia; we evaluated the relationship with medication and symptoms, and considered possible mediatory mechanisms. The literature established that people with schizophrenia demonstrated impaired function: (i) when passively exposed to emotion cues whilst performing an unrelated task, (ii) when selectively attending to one source of emotion cues whilst trying to ignore interference from another source, and (iii) when trying to resolve conflicting emotion cues and judge meta-communicative intent. These deficits showed associations with both negative and positive symptoms. There was limited evidence for antipsychotic medications attenuating impaired emotion perception when there are conflicting cues, with further direct research needed. Impaired attentional control and context processing may underlie some of the observed impairments. Neuroanatomical correlates are likely to involve interhemispheric transfer via the corpus callosum, limbic regions such as the amygdala, and possibly dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex through their role in conflict processing.

The processing of emotional stimuli during periods of limited attentional resources in schizophrenia

When participants are asked to attend to two target stimuli in a rapid serial visual presentation sequence, the successful identification of the 1st target (T1) leads to transient impairment in reporting the 2nd target (T2)--this effect is known as the attentional blink (AB). In healthy individuals, this AB effect is either diminished or accentuated when emotional stimuli are presented in the T2 or T1 positions, respectively, suggesting that affective content influences bottom-up (i.e., exogenous) attention. In the current study, we conducted two separate experiments using the Emotional Attentional Blink paradigm where emotional words were presented in the T2 or T1 position to determine whether schizophrenia patients with high and low negative symptoms differ from controls in the extent to which emotional stimuli influence bottom-up attentional processes. Participants included 33 schizophrenia patients and 28 controls in Experiment 1 (T2 Task), and 30 schizophrenia patients and 24 controls in Experiment 2 (T1 Task). In both experiments, patients were divided into high (HI-NEG) and low (LOW-NEG) negative symptom subgroups using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that controls and LOW-NEG patients displayed the typical pattern of AB sparing at early lags for emotional relative to neutral words; however, HI-NEG patients showed no difference in T2 accuracy between emotional and neutral stimuli. Results of Experiment 2 indicated that controls and LOW-NEG patients displayed reduced T2 accuracy following unpleasant T1 stimuli, while HI-NEG patients showed no decrement in T2 accuracy after emotional T1s. Across both experiments, findings suggest that emotional stimuli have a bottom-up competitive advantage in LOW-NEG patients and controls; however, this bottom-up advantage is absent in HI-NEG patients.

Affective disturbances in psychometrically defined schizotypy across direct, but not indirect assessment modes

Affective disturbances in social domains are characteristic features and potential vulnerability markers of schizophrenia-spectrum pathology. The present study employed a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to understanding affect in individuals with psychometrically defined schizotypy and the controls. Measures were employed assessing trait and state social affective experiences across direct--involving explicit deliberative responses, and indirect domains--involving implicit, behavioral or otherwise non-deliberative responses. The indirect assessments included a modified Implicit Association Test and computerized lexical analysis of natural speech procured during a laboratory speech task. Our affect measures were also unique in that they allowed for separate measurement of pleasant and unpleasant affect. On all direct trait and "in-the-moment" state measures of social affect, individuals with schizotypy reported dramatically decreased pleasant and increased unpleasant affect compared to controls. This was not the case for the indirect measures, which indicated no significant group differences. This pattern was generally consistent regardless of positive, negative and disorganized schizotypal trait severity. These data suggest that affective deficits in schizotypy reflect deliberative rather than implicit/automatic processes. Implications of these findings are discussed.