The backward masking red light effect and schizotypy: the influence of sex

High Schizotypal Individuals Are More Creative? The Mediation Roles of Overinclusive Thinking and Cognitive Inhibition

Although a theoretical link between positive schizotypy and heightened creativity has been established in the literature, little empirical research has been conducted to examine the underlying cognitive processes that contribute to this association. In addition, previous studies found a negative relationship between positive schizotypy and cognitive inhibition; however, they often used the paradigm of latent inhibition. This study used the paradigm of prepotent response inhibition indicated by Stroop interference effect and examined the mediation effects of overinclusive thinking (OT) and cognitive inhibition on the creativity of schizotypal individuals. Two groups of low and high schizotypal individuals (N = 78) participated in the study. Each participant completed one OT task, one color-word Stroop task, three other executive functioning (EF) control tasks, and two creativity tasks. The results indicated that the high schizotypal group outperformed the low schizotypal group in the creativity tasks. They also exhibited higher OT as indicated by faster reaction time and higher cognitive inhibition as indicated by lower Stroop interference effect. Further, participant's levels of OT and cognitive inhibition partially mediated the relationship between schizotypy and creativity. The results were discussed under the context of schizotypy and creativity research and implications for rehabitation were further provided.

Chinese version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire: Factor structure replication and invariance across sex

INTRODUCTION

The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) is a self-report measure assessing symptoms of schizotypy. The SPQ has been used in both normative and clinical samples and has much theoretical and empirical support. A three-factor structure of the SPQ, derived on the basis of work in schizophrenia, consisting of Cognitive-Perceptual, Interpersonal, and Disorganized factors, has been well replicated. The present study aimed to (i) validate this three-factor structure in the Chinese version of the SPQ in a sample of individuals of Chinese ethnicity, and (ii) test for invariance across sex.

METHODS

A total of 209 (99 males) undergraduate university students (Mage  = 19.5, SD = 1.6) were administered the SPQ.

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a better fit between the data and the three-factor model compared with a one-factor model. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis also found strong measurement invariance across sex.

DISCUSSION

The current results add to a growing body of literature evidencing cross-cultural validity of the SPQ and its invariance across sex. Research and clinical implications of the current results are discussed.

Speech prosody abnormalities and specific dimensional schizotypy features: are relationships limited to male participants?

In schizophrenia, diminished vocal expressivity is associated with lower quality of life. Studies using computerized acoustic analysis of speech have found no evidence of diminished vocal prosody related to categorically defined schizotypy, a subclinical analogue of schizophrenia. However, existing studies have not examined the interaction between schizotypy and sex with vocal prosody measures. The current study examined 44 young adults (50% men) who were recruited to represent a continuous range of schizotypy. Speech samples were digitally recorded during autobiographical narratives and analyzed for prosody. In the male participants, variability of fundamental frequency and variability of intensity were each negatively related to the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) ideas of reference subscale, whereas SPQ suspiciousness was related to a greater number of utterances, and SPQ odd behavior was related to a greater number of pauses. Because the relationships were restricted to men, and not significant in women, the results may explain earlier negative findings with schizotypy.