A multidimensional assessment of social cognition in psychometrically defined schizotypy

Measuring social cognition within the university: The Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) battery in an undergraduate sample

Many social cognitive assessments that were developed specifically for use in clinical populations are now being widely used in undergraduate populations, either to provide a comparison for clinical groups or to explore performance across the continuum from healthy to subclinical populations. However, the appropriateness of using these assessments in the general population is unclear. The current study, therefore, seeks to determine whether the Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) battery retains its psychometric properties when used in an undergraduate sample.The initial SCOPE battery was administered to 265 undergraduate participants, and the utility of the tasks was measured by assessing floor and ceiling effects. Internal consistency, discriminant and convergent validity are reported for each task, and the relationship between task performance and neurocognition and social functioning were assessed.Several of the tasks demonstrated limited utility, with the Hinting Task specifically demonstrating a pronounced ceiling effect. Only two measures of social cognitive biases achieved satisfactory internal consistency. Select tasks demonstrated small, but significant relationships with social functioning outcomes and significantly predicted 2-3% of variance above neurocognition alone.Despite the association with social functioning, results indicate that the psychometric properties demonstrated in the initial SCOPE study with a clinical sample do not fully extend to a healthy undergraduate population and highlight the need for social cognitive tasks that validly assess ability across the continuum.

Abnormalities in emotion regulation are associated with negative, but not positive or disorganized schizotypy: An experience sampling study

BACKGROUND

Schizotypy, a multidimensional construct with positive, negative, and disorganized dimensions, represents a vulnerability marker for the development of schizophrenia. Although there has been increasing evidence linking schizotypy to emotion regulation (ER) deficits, the specific association between different schizotypal dimensions and alterations in ER strategy use in daily life remains poorly understood.

METHODS

Using the experience sampling method (ESM), the present study examined the associations between positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy and ER strategy use in daily life in a nonclinical young adult sample (N = 258). Participants were instructed to report their ER strategy use 5 times a day for 14 days. Four adaptive ER strategies (reflection, reappraisal, social sharing, and distraction) and two maladaptive ER strategies (suppression and rumination) were included.

RESULTS

Multilevel modeling analyses showed that positive schizotypal traits predicted greater use of adaptive ER strategies, while negative schizotypal traits predicted less use of adaptive ER strategies and more frequent use of emotional suppression in daily life. No associations between disorganized schizotypal traits and any ER strategy use were found.

CONCLUSION

Schizotypy dimensions are differentiated by preferences for different ER strategies in daily life. The findings suggest a strong association between negative schizotypy and notable dysfunctions in ER, emphasizing the significance of negative schizotypy as a vulnerability factor for psychosis.

The association between discourse production and schizotypal personality traits

Discourse abnormalities are a prominent feature in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, including poor lexical diversity, and have been found to differentiate patients from healthy subjects. However, discourse processing in individuals with high schizotypal personality traits is less understood and is often overshadowed by research on clinical psychotic symptoms. In the present study, we examined schizotypal traits at a non-clinical threshold and their association with lexical diversity and discourse coherence using two automated Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools - Type-Token-Ratio (TTR) measures from the Tool for the Automatic Analysis of Lexical Diversity (TAALED) and discourse coherence using sentence-level average cosign similarity with FastText to assess sentence similarity. 276 college students completed the full assessment including the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire- Brief Revised (SPQ-BR) and recorded a speech sample describing a detailed painting. Results revealed that high schizotypal traits, specifically positive traits, were associated with lower lexical diversity and higher sentence similarity. Our findings suggest that even when clinically significant symptoms are not present, discourse abnormalities are present in healthy populations with high ST. The stronger association with positive traits suggests that theories of perseveration and top-down processing may warrant further investigation in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Neuropsychology and Neurobiology of Negative Schizotypy: A Selective Review

Schizotypy refers to a latent personality organization that reflects liability to schizophrenia. Because schizotypy is a multidimensional construct, people with schizotypy vary in behavioral and neurobiological features. In this article, we selectively review the neuropsychological and neurobiological profiles of people with schizotypy, with a focus on negative schizotypy. Empirical evidence is presented for alterations of neuropsychological performance in negative schizotypy. We also cover the Research Domain Criteria domains of positive valence, social process, and sensorimotor systems. Moreover, we systematically summarize the neurobiological correlates of negative schizotypy at the structural, resting-state, and task-based neural levels, as well as the neurochemical level. The convergence and inconsistency of the evidence are critically reviewed. Regarding theoretical and clinical implications, we argue that negative schizotypy represents a useful organizational framework for studying neuropsychology and neurobiology across different psychiatric disorders.

The relationship between script memory for everyday events and schizotypy: an investigation through a development of Japanese Situational Feature Recognition Test

Background

Script memory is stored information about a sequential structure of an activity (e.g., going shopping), including what actors do, the purpose of the activity, and the likely consequences of the actor's actions. It has been reported that script memory is impaired among schizophrenia patients. The present research investigated the relationship between schizotypal personality tendencies (schizotypy) and script memory by testing Japanese individuals.

Method

First, a new test to measure the intactness of the script memory was created by asking the public to report activities they often perform and what behaviors each activity contains. The test contains 15 everyday activities, each accompanied by 15 behavior choices, either strongly associated, completely unrelated, or weakly associated with the activity. Next, undergraduate participants were presented with the test and chose appropriate behaviors for each activity (Study 1 and 2). Their extent of schizotypy was measured using Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief (SPQ-B). Study 3 targeted the public of various ages. In addition to Study 2 procedure, participants reported the extent of psychological burden for performing each activity, their life satisfaction, and subjective evaluation of their memory ability.

Results

All studies consistently found that the script memory performance was worse for individuals with higher schizotypy. Signal detection indices for accurate discrimination between correct and incorrect choices, which were A' in Study 1 and C in Study 2 and 3, negatively correlated with the SPQ-B scores (r = -0.16, -0.11, -0.17, respectively). Study 3 found that the relationship between schizotypy and memory task performance was mediated by the extent of psychological burden. When a signal detection index (d') for the memory task was regressed on the SPQ-B, while the psychological burden scores being a mediator, the mediation effect was significant (B = 0.003, SE = 0.001, 95% CI [0.001, 0.005]).

Conclusion

Individuals with higher schizotypy seem to associate unrelated behaviors to an event, forming script memory with irrelevant information, maybe due to the schizotypy symptom of having peculiar thoughts. The newly created test must be validated using a clinical population to expand its potential to be used in clinical research.

Emotional anticipation for dynamic emotional faces is not modulated by schizotypal traits: A Representational Momentum study

Schizotypy, a personality structure that resembles schizophrenia symptoms, is often associated with abnormal facial emotion perception. Based on the prevailing sense of threat in psychotic experiences, and the immediate perceptual history of seeing others' facial expressions, individuals with high schizotypal traits may exhibit a heightened tendency to anticipate anger. To test this, we used insights from Representational Momentum (RM), a perceptual phenomenon in which the endpoint of a dynamic event is systematically displaced forward, into the immediate future. Angry-to-ambiguous and happy-to-ambiguous avatar faces were presented, each followed by a probe with the same (ambiguous) expression as the endpoint, or one slightly changed to express greater happiness/anger. Participants judged if the probe was "equal" to the endpoint and rated how confident they were. The sample was divided into high (N = 46) and low (N = 49) schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). First, a forward bias was found in happy-to-ambiguous faces, suggesting emotional anticipation solely for dynamic faces changing towards a potential threat (anger). This may reflect an adaptative mechanism, as it is safer to anticipate any hostility from a conspecific than the opposite. Second, contrary to our hypothesis, high schizotypal traits did not heighten RM for happy-to-ambiguous faces, nor did they lead to overconfidence in biased judgements. This may suggest a typical pattern of emotional anticipation in non-clinical schizotypy, but caution is needed due to the use of self-report questionnaires, university students, and a modest sample size. Future studies should also investigate if the same holds for clinical manifestations of schizophrenia.

Schizotypy Moderates the Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Social Cognition

ABSTRACT

Poor sleep quality has been tied to worse social cognition. Social cognitive deficits have been noted in those with high schizotypy. Yet, no study has assessed whether schizotypy moderates the relationship between sleep quality and social cognition, which may be vital to our understanding of contributors to social functioning. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of associations of sleep quality and social cognition, with potential moderation by schizotypy. Participants ( n = 906) completed self-report measures of schizotypy, sleep quality, and social cognition. Levels of schizotypy significantly moderated some of the relationships between sleep and social cognition. For participants low in total or interpersonal schizotypy, worse sleep quality was associated with worse theory of mind scores. For participants low in total, disorganized, or cognitive perceptual schizotypy, worse sleep quality was associated with worse self-reported cognitive empathy. For those high in these facets of schizotypy, worse sleep quality was associated with better self-reported cognitive empathy. These results suggest that the individual facets of schizotypy provide additional information and, therefore, are important to assess when examining social cognition and sleep.

Cold executive function processes and their hot analogs in schizotypy

OBJECTIVE

To examine cold (based on logical reasoning) versus hot (having emotional components) executive function processes in groups with high individual schizotypal traits.

METHOD

Two-hundred and forty-seven participants were administered the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and were allocated into schizotypal (cognitive-perceptual, paranoid, negative, disorganized) or control groups according to pre-specified criteria. Participants were also administered a battery of tasks examining working memory, complex selective attention, response inhibition, decision-making and fluid intelligence and their affective counterparts. The outcome measures of each task were reduced to one composite variable thus formulating five cold and five hot cognitive domains. Between-group differences in the cognitive domains were examined with repeated measures analyses of covariance.

RESULTS

For working memory, the control and the cognitive-perceptual groups outperformed negative schizotypes, while for affective working memory controls outperformed the disorganized group. Controls also scored higher compared with the disorganized group in complex selective attention, while both the control and the cognitive-perceptual groups outperformed negative schizotypes in complex affective selective attention. Negative schizotypes also had striking difficulties in response inhibition, as they scored lower compared with all other groups. Despite the lack of differences in fluid intelligence, controls scored higher compared with all schizotypal groups (except from cognitive-perceptual schizotypes) in emotional intelligence; the latter group reported higher emotional intelligence compared with negative schizotypes.

CONCLUSION

Results indicate that there is no categorical association between the different schizotypal dimensions with solely cold or hot executive function processes and support impoverished emotional intelligence as a core feature of schizotypy.

The role of the differential outcomes procedure and schizotypy in the recognition of dynamic facial expressions of emotions

Emotional facial expression recognition is a key ability for adequate social functioning. The current study aims to test if the differential outcomes procedure (DOP) may improve the recognition of dynamic facial expressions of emotions and to further explore whether schizotypal personality traits may have any effect on performance. 183 undergraduate students completed a task where a face morphed from a neutral expression to one of the six basic emotions at full intensity over 10 s. Participants had to press spacebar as soon as they identified the emotion and choose which had appeared. In the first block, participants received no outcomes. In the second block, a group received specific outcomes associated to each emotion (DOP group), while another group received non-differential outcomes after correctly responding (NOP group). Employing generalized linear models (GLMs) and Bayesian inference we estimated different parameters to answer our research goals. Schizotypal personality traits did not seem to affect dynamic emotional facial expression recognition. Participants of the DOP group were less likely to respond incorrectly to faces showing Fear and Surprise at fewer intensity levels. This may suggest that the DOP could lead to better identification of the main features that differentiate each facial expression of emotion.

Facial emotion recognition and schizotypal traits: A systematic review of behavioural studies

AIM

Previous research has indicated that individuals expressing high schizotypal traits and patients with Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD), show deficits in facial emotion recognition, compared to low schizotypal or control groups. On the other hand, non-significant findings also exist and the association of facial emotion recognition deficits with the different schizotypal dimensions is not well defined, thus limiting any conclusive outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to further clarify this relationship.

METHODS

PsychInfo, Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed were systematically searched, and 23 papers with a cross-sectional design were selected. Nineteen studies examined individuals with high schizotypal traits and four studies evaluated SPD individuals with behavioural facial emotion recognition paradigms and self-report measures or clinical interviews for schizotypal traits. All selected studies were published between 1994 and August 2020.

RESULTS

According to the evidence of studies, high schizotypal individuals and SPD patients have poorer performance in facial emotion recognition tasks. Negative schizotypy was related to lower accuracy for positive and negative emotions and faster emotion labeling while positive schizotypy was associated with worse accuracy for positive, negative and neutral emotions and more biases. Disorganized schizotypy was associated with poorer accuracy for negative emotions and suspiciousness with higher accuracy for disgust faces but lower total accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are consistent with the vulnerability for schizophrenia spectrum disorders and support the idea that emotion recognition deficits are trait markers for these conditions. Thus, the effectiveness of early-intervention programmes could increase by also targeting this class of deficits.

A comparative study of theory of mind in taxon-like clusters of psychometric schizotypes and individuals at genetic risk for schizophrenia

Introduction: Clinical and family studies suggest that alterations of theory of mind (ToM) represent a marker of genetic liability to schizophrenia. Findings regarding ToM in schizotypy are less consistent. The study aimed to explore whether this might be due to an insufficient account of the heterogeneity of schizotypy in prior research and/or the fact that in psychometric schizotypy ToM alterations could manifest as subtle peculiarities rather than overt errors of mentalising.Methods: Individuals without a family history of psychosis (n = 150) were assigned to low, positive, negative, and high mixed schizotypy classes based on a cluster analysis of 1322 subjects who completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. The classes were compared on their performance of faux pas tasks with 77 adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients, who represent individuals at genetic risk for schizophrenia. Besides overt errors, subtle alterations in ToM were analysed using expert judgment.Results: The relatives tended to make overt errors and demonstrated specific features of intentional reasoning. None of the schizotypal classes showed similar trends.Conclusions: The results complement the literature on the subjective-objective disjunction in psychometric schizotypes and did not provide evidence that ToM anomalies are a marker of genetic liability to schizophrenia in this cohort.

The Relationship Among Mentalization, Mindfulness, Working Memory, and Schizotypal Personality Traits in the General Population

Individuals with high schizotypal traits are less able to observe, describe, and monitor inner feelings, thoughts, and experiences, commonly referred to as mindfulness and mentalization. High schizotypy is also associated with impaired working memory (WM). However, the relationship among mindfulness, mentalization, WM, and schizotypal traits is unknown. Three hundred individuals from the community (mean age: 38.0 years, SD = 10.5; 49.3% women) completed questionnaires examining schizotypal traits, mindfulness, and mentalization and performed working memory tasks. Results revealed that mentalization was a general predictor of schizotypal traits, including unusual experiences, cognitive disorganization, introverted anhedonia, and impulsive nonconformity, when the effect of mindfulness and working memory was controlled. We also found a positive correlation between mindfulness and mentalization. Low mindfulness and mentalization performances were associated with high schizotypy. However, poor working memory was only weakly linked to cognitive disorganization and introverted anhedonia. These findings suggest that weak mentalization is a core feature of schizotypy independent of mindfulness and working memory.

Examining facial emotion recognition as an intermediate phenotype for psychosis: Findings from the EUGEI study

BACKGROUND

Social cognition impairments, such as facial emotion recognition (FER), have been acknowledged since the earliest description of schizophrenia. Here, we tested FER as an intermediate phenotype for psychosis using two approaches that are indicators of genetic risk for schizophrenia: the proxy-genetic risk approach (family design) and the polygenic risk score for schizophrenia (PRS-SCZ).

METHODS

The sample comprised 2039 individuals with schizophrenia, 2141 siblings, and 2049 healthy controls (HC). The Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task (DFAR) was applied to measure the FER accuracy. Schizotypal traits in siblings and HC were assessed using the Structured Interview for Schizotypy-Revised (SIS-R). The PRS-SCZ was trained using the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium results. Regression models were applied to test the association of DFAR with psychosis risk, SIS-R, and PRS-SCZ.

RESULTS

The DFAR-total scores were lower in individuals with schizophrenia than in siblings (RR = 0.97 [95% CI 0.97, 0.97]), who scored lower than HC (RR = 0.99 [95% CI 0.99-1.00]). The DFAR-total scores were negatively associated with SIS-R total scores in siblings (B = -2.04 [95% CI -3.72, -0.36]) and HC (B = -2.93 [95% CI -5.50, -0.36]). Different patterns of association were observed for individual emotions. No significant associations were found between DFAR scores and PRS-SCZ.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings based on a proxy genetic risk approach suggest that FER deficits may represent an intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia. However, a significant association between FER and PRS-SCZ was not found. In the future, genetic mechanisms underlying FER phenotypes should be investigated trans-diagnostically.

N400 Peculiarities During Intentional Inferences Production in Subjects With Schizotypal Traits

Abstract. A deficit in context processing may underlie theory of mind (ToM) difficulties in schizophrenia, although few studies to date have explored the impact of contextual processing on ToM performances within the same task. We used electroencephalography to investigate the production of intentional inferences from highly versus weakly structured sentences in healthy participants with schizotypal traits. Thirty-four participants were divided into two groups according to their scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). The participants listened to stories that required a degree of understanding in order to produce an inference about the main character’s intention. Each story was followed by a target word that could either be highly predictable (HP), weakly predictable (WP), or incompatible with the context. The results indicate that the N400 component for WP targets was stronger in the high-SPQ group. This increase correlated with the negative dimension of schizotypy. This may reflect difficulties with generating intentional inferences when the context is insufficiently structured for high schizotypy participants.

Schizotypy is associated with difficulties detecting emotional facial expressions

People with schizophrenia or subclinical schizotypal traits exhibit impaired recognition of facial expressions. However, it remains unclear whether the detection of emotional facial expressions is impaired in people with schizophrenia or high levels of schizotypy. The present study examined whether the detection of emotional facial expressions would be associated with schizotypy in a non-clinical population after controlling for the effects of IQ, age, and sex. Participants were asked to respond to whether all faces were the same as quickly and as accurately as possible following the presentation of angry or happy faces or their anti-expressions among crowds of neutral faces. Anti-expressions contain a degree of visual change that is equivalent to that of normal emotional facial expressions relative to neutral facial expressions and are recognized as neutral expressions. Normal expressions of anger and happiness were detected more rapidly and accurately than their anti-expressions. Additionally, the degree of overall schizotypy was negatively correlated with the effectiveness of detecting normal expressions versus anti-expressions. An emotion-recognition task revealed that the degree of positive schizotypy was negatively correlated with the accuracy of facial expression recognition. These results suggest that people with high levels of schizotypy experienced difficulties detecting and recognizing emotional facial expressions.

Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind in Positive Schizotypy: Relationship to Schizotypal Traits and Psychosocial Functioning

Theory of mind (ToM) impairments are well documented in schizophrenia, although it remains unclear whether these deficits exist among individuals with schizotypy. The current study sought to shed light on mixed findings in schizotypy by differentiating between various aspects of ToM, (cognitive/affective ToM and overmentalization/undermentalization). A three-group design (positive schizotypy, negative affect, and healthy control) was used to assess ToM performance on the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition. Results indicated that the positive schizotypy group made greater intent overmentalization errors than both control groups. The schizotypy and negative affect groups made greater emotion overmentalization errors relative to healthy controls. In addition, the authors explored the relationship between ToM, schizotypal traits, and psychosocial functioning. Results demonstrated a significant positive relationship between cognitive-perceptual schizotypal traits and intent overmentalization as well as a significant positive relationship between interpersonal traits and emotion overmentalization. Finally, intent and emotion overmentalization were both related to poorer psychosocial functioning.

Linking RDoC and HiTOP: A new interface for advancing psychiatric nosology and neuroscience

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) represent major dimensional frameworks proposing two alternative approaches to accelerate progress in the way psychopathology is studied, classified, and treated. RDoC is a research framework rooted in neuroscience aiming to further the understanding of transdiagnostic biobehavioral systems underlying psychopathology and ultimately inform future classifications. HiTOP is a dimensional classification system, derived from the observed covariation among symptoms of psychopathology and maladaptive traits, which seeks to provide more informative research and treatment targets (i.e., dimensional constructs and clinical assessments) than traditional diagnostic categories. This article argues that the complementary strengths of RDoC and HiTOP can be leveraged in order to achieve their respective goals. RDoC's biobehavioral framework may help elucidate the underpinnings of the clinical dimensions included in HiTOP, whereas HiTOP may provide psychometrically robust clinical targets for RDoC-informed research. We present a comprehensive mapping between dimensions included in RDoC (constructs and subconstructs) and HiTOP (spectra and subfactors) based on narrative review of the empirical literature. The resulting RDoC-HiTOP interface sheds light on the biobehavioral correlates of clinical dimensions and provides a broad set of dimensional clinical targets for etiological and neuroscientific research. We conclude with future directions and practical recommendations for using this interface to advance clinical neuroscience and psychiatric nosology. Ultimately, we envision that this RDoC-HiTOP interface has the potential to inform the development of a unified, dimensional, and biobehaviorally-grounded psychiatric nosology.

[Theory of mind and schizotypy: A review]

OBJECTIVES

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are associated with incapacitating social impairments, mostly due to Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits. Theory of mind difficulties often precede the beginning of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and contribute highly to the social withdrawal of patients. They also predict bad outcome for individuals suffering from this condition. The use of samples of individuals presenting subclinical forms of schizophrenia spectrum disorders constitute an opportunity to study theory of mind capacities. Notably, the study of theory of mind deficits in schizotypy allows a better understanding of predictive markers of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. They also contribute to the identification of primary processes involved in social difficulties associated with these disorders.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases for peer-reviewed articles studying the association between theory of mind performance and schizotypal traits up to the 1 April 2020. The following syntax was used: schizotypy AND ("theory of mind" OR "social cognition" OR "irony" OR "false belief" OR "social inference" OR "hinting task"). We also checked the references from these articles for additional papers. Only English and French written articles were considered.

RESULTS

Twenty-three articles were included in the review. The majority of these studies (n=20) used behavioral measures of theory of mind (i.e. percentages of correct responses on a theory of mind task). Only a few (n=3) recent studies used brain imaging to study theory of mind in psychometric schizotypy. In those 23 studies, 18 report theory of mind difficulties in individuals with high schizotypal traits. Ten out of these 19 studies report an association between positive schizotypy and theory of mind deficits/hypomentalizing. The positive dimension was the most associated with theory of mind difficulties. The negative dimension was associated with theory of mind deficits in six studies out of 19 (33 %). The association between disorganization and theory of mind deficits was weak, mostly because of a lack of studies measuring this dimension (only one study out of 13 measured this particular trait). The association between hypermentalizing and schizotypy was poorly characterized, due to high heterogeneity in how this feature was conceptualized and measured. In summary, some authors consider good performance on a theory of mind task as a sign of hypermentalizing, while other authors consider that this feature relates to the production of erroneous interpretations of mental states. We advocate in favor of the second definition, and more studies using this framework should be conducted. Interestingly, the three studies using fMRI showed no significant behavioral differences between high and low schizotypal groups on theory of mind performance, while the patterns of brain activation differed. This shows that in individuals with schizotypy, theory of mind anomalies are not always captured just by behavioral performance. Brain imagery should be included in more studies to better understand theory of mind in schizotypy. In general, high heterogeneity in ways of assessing schizotypy, and in the tasks used to evaluate theory of mind, were found. Notably, some tasks require shallower theory of mind processing than others. It is a priority to design theory of mind tasks that allow for manipulating the difficulty of the items within one task, as well as the level of help that can be given, in order to allow for a better assessment of the impact of theory of mind difficulties and the ways to compensate for them.

CONCLUSIONS

The studies included in this review confirm the association between psychometric schizotypy and theory of mind. But the high heterogeneity in methods used in these studies, and notably the diversity in ways of assessing schizotypal traits and theory of mind, hinder a precise description of such an association. Additional studies are required. In particular, fMRI studies using tasks allowing for a precise description of altered and preserved theory of mind processes could be of great use in characterizing theory of mind difficulties associated with schizotypy.

High Schizotypy Predicts Emotion Recognition Independently of Negative Affect

Introduction: Deficits in Emotion Recognition (ER) contribute significantly to poorer functional outcomes in people with schizophrenia. However, rather than reflecting a core symptom of schizophrenia, reduced ER has been suggested to reflect increased mood disorder co-morbidity and confounds of patient status such as medication. We investigated whether ER deficits are replicable in psychometrically defined schizotypy, and whether this putative association is mediated by increased negative affect. Methods: Two hundred and nine participants between the ages of 18 and 69 (66% female) were recruited from online platforms: 80% held an undergraduate qualification or higher, 44% were current students, and 46% were in current employment. Participants were assessed on psychometric schizotypy using the O-LIFE which maps onto the same symptoms structure (positive, negative, and disorganised) as schizophrenia. Negative affect was assessed using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Emotion Recognition of both positive and negative emotions was assessed using the short version of the Geneva Emotion Recognition Task (GERT-S). Results: Negative schizotypy traits predicted poorer ER accuracy to negative emotions (β = -0.192, p = 0.002) as predicted. Unexpectedly, disorganised schizotypy traits predicted improved performance to negative emotions (β = 0.256, p = 0.007) (primarily disgust). Negative affect was found to be unrelated to ER performance of either valence (both p > 0.591). No measure predicted ER accuracy of positive emotions. Positive schizotypy traits were not found to predict either positive or negative ER accuracy. However, positive schizotypy predicted increased confidence in decisions and disorganised schizotypy predicted reduced confidence in decisions. Discussion: The replication of ER deficits in non-clinical negative schizotypy suggests that the association between negative symptoms and ER deficits in clinical samples may be independent of confounds of patient status (i.e., anti-psychotic medication). The finding that this association was independent of negative affect further suggests ER deficits in patients may also be independent of mood disorder co-morbidity. This association was not demonstrated for the positive symptom dimension of the O-LIFE, which may be due to low levels of this trait in the current sample.

Theory of mind and schizotypy: A meta-analysis

Schizotypy is a multi-dimensional personality construct that putatively indicates an individual's liability to psychosis. Schizophrenia is associated with significant deficits in theory of mind (ToM). However, previous studies investigating the relationship between schizotypy and ToM provided inconsistent findings. Following the systematic review of all relevant schizotypy studies between January 1, 1980 and June 30, 2019, a meta-analysis of the relationship between ToM and schizotypy was conducted. Current meta-analysis included 24 studies consisting of 4162 healthy individuals. Overall, there was a significant but a small negative relationship between ToM and schizotypy (d = -0.23, CI = -0.14-0.33). Schizotypy scores were negatively associated with both reasoning (d = -0.24, CI = -0.11-0.38) and decoding (d = -0.21, CI = -0.09-0.32) aspects of ToM. The relationship between ToM and schizotypy was more significant in the studies using extreme-group design (d = -0.31, CI = -0.17-0.45) than non-extreme-group design (d = -0.17, CI = -0.04-0.29). ToM abnormalities were significantly related to both positive and negative schizotypy. Current findings support the continuum between schizotpy and schizophrenia. ToM abnormalities might be vulnerability markers for psychosis.

Exploring the Relationship Between Schizotypal Traits and Dispositional Mindfulness From a Network Perspective

Schizotypy has been associated with impairment in social cognition (e.g., emotional processing, social perception, Theory of Mind). To our knowledge, no study has investigated these processes in terms of dispositional mindfulness. This study aimed to use network theory to explore the relationship between dispositional mindfulness dimensions and schizotypal traits. Participants were 1572 college students who completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FFMQ-SF) and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B). We first estimated a Gaussian Graphical Model including the FFMQ-SF and the SPQ-B dimensions. We then computed centrality indices and predictability, and we finally conducted a bootstrapping procedure to assess the accuracy of edge weights and the stability of the centrality indices. Describing was strongly and negatively related to interpersonal schizotypy. Acting with awareness and nonjudgment shared negative edges with interpersonal schizotypy. These results provide potential keys to understand alexithymia, decreased sense of self-agency, and emotion regulation in schizotypy.

The role of schizotypal traits and the OXTR gene in theory of mind in schizophrenia: A family-based study

BACKGROUND

There is consistent evidence that theory of mind (ToM) is impaired in schizophrenia (SZ); however, it remains unclear whether such deficits are trait- or state-dependent. We evaluated ToM in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs), their healthy first-degree relatives, and controls to test its suitability as an endophenotypic marker. We also studied the modifying effect of markers of clinical and genetic liability to SZ (schizotypy and genetic variability in the oxytocin receptor gene: OXTR) on ToM in healthy individuals.

METHODS

The sample included 38 stable SSD patients, 80 unaffected first-degree relatives, and 81 controls. ToM was assessed using the Hinting Task (HT) and schizotypy via the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), which generates interpersonal (SPQ-IP), cognitive-perceptual (SPQ-CP), and disorganization (SPQ-D) scores. The polymorphism rs53576 of OXTR was genotyped.

RESULTS

Patients presented poorer HT performance than relatives and controls (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001). High SPQ-IP and SPQ-CP scores correlated with poorer ToM performance in relatives (p = 0.010 and p = 0.030), but not in controls. OXTR was not associated with HT scores, but it showed a modifying effect within controls; high SPQ-CP was related to HT poorer performance conditional to GG genotype (p = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS

ToM deficits were present in patients but not in unaffected relatives or controls. However, our data indicate the usefulness of clinical and genetic liability markers to characterize differences in ToM abilities within healthy individuals. Then, the observed link between ToM and SZ liability suggests the putative role of ToM as an endophenotypic marker. Nevertheless, new analyses in larger samples are needed.

Introspective accuracy for social competence in psychometric schizotypy

Introduction: Deficits in social competence have been identified in schizotypy; however, most studies rely on self-reports of these skills. Deficits in introspective accuracy (IA) have been identified within schizophrenia, and recent work suggests IA is impaired in schizotypy as well. Thus, the perception of poorer social competence among individuals high in schizotypy may be due to inaccurate self-assessments rather than actual skill deficits.Method: This study examined the relationship between schizotypy, perceived social competence, and observed social competence in 137 undergraduate students.Results: Differences in self-reported social competence were found such that individuals high in schizotypy reported greater deficits than individuals low in schizotypy. However, the groups performed comparably on an objective assessment of social competence. Within groups, individuals high in schizotypy underestimated their social competence, whereas controls overestimated their social competence. Thus, both groups demonstrated impairments in IA.Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that individuals high in schizotypal traits perceive that they have poor social competence despite displaying skills that are on par with their peers. Such perceptions may lead to avoidance of social interactions or employment opportunities and could contribute to deficits in social functioning.

Classification of social anhedonia using temporal and spatial network features from a social cognition fMRI task

Previous studies have suggested that the degree of social anhedonia reflects the vulnerability for developing schizophrenia. However, only few studies have investigated how functional network changes are related to social anhedonia. The aim of this fMRI study was to classify subjects according to their degree of social anhedonia using supervised machine learning. More specifically, we extracted both spatial and temporal network features during a social cognition task from 70 subjects, and used support vector machines for classification. Since impairment in social cognition is well established in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, the subjects performed a comic strip task designed to specifically probe theory of mind (ToM) and empathy processing. Features representing both temporal (time series) and network dynamics were extracted using task activation maps, seed region analysis, independent component analysis (ICA), and a newly developed multi-subject archetypal analysis (MSAA), which here aimed to further bridge aspects of both seed region analysis and decomposition by incorporating a spotlight approach.We found significant classification of subjects with elevated levels of social anhedonia when using the times series extracted using MSAA, indicating that temporal dynamics carry important information for classification of social anhedonia. Interestingly, we found that the same time series yielded the highest classification performance in a task classification of the ToM condition. Finally, the spatial network corresponding to that time series included both prefrontal and temporal-parietal regions as well as insula activity, which previously have been related schizotypy and the development of schizophrenia.

Childhood maltreatment impacts the early stage of facial emotion processing in young adults with negative schizotypy

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a factor of risk for psychosis and is associated with alterations in facial emotion processing.Negative symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders are associated with deficits in facial emotion processing, but research findings on schizotypy are mixed. This study examined the early stage of facial emotion processing in young adults with high levels of negative schizotypy (NS) and explored the impact of childhood maltreatment. On the basis of the Social and Physical Anhedonia subscales of the Chapman Psychosis-Proneness Scales, a total of 74 high-NS and 52 low-NS individuals were recruited to complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the dot-probe task. The P100 and N170 components of event-related potentials were measured to assess the processing of four facial expressions of emotion. The high-NS group showed significantly reduced P100 amplitudes for all facial expressions. Angry and fearful expressions elicited larger N170 amplitudes than disgusted and happy expressions. Happy expressions elicited shorter N170 latencies than disgusted expressions. Compared to the high-NS group without CM, the high-NS group with CM had a longer latency of P100. Individuals with high NS, compared to individuals with low NS, have impaired fundamental visual processing, but intact processing of facial figurations. Childhood maltreatment may be a factor responsible for the pathological state of the visual pathway in high NS group.

Cognitive fusion and affective isolation: Blurred self-concept and empathy deficits in schizotypy

This is a cross-sectional nonclinical sample study to examine the different levels of the Ipsiety Disturbance Model (IDM) for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (introduced by Sass and Parnas, 2003). Three faces of schizotypy were studied: diminished self-presence, hyper-reflexivity, and distortion in experience of own self and another person's self-discrimination. A sample of college students (N = 1312) was provided a questionnaire packet that contained the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire Brief-Revisited (SPQ-BR), the Self-Concept Clarity Sale, the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and Interpersonal Reactivity Index measures. Results: higher absorption capabilities predict higher scores on both the SPQ-BR cognitive and SPQ-BR disorganization factors. High scores in cognitive empathy predicted a low score on both SPQ-BR cognitive and SPQ-BR interpersonal scores. In contrast, higher affective empathy predicted high scores on the SPQ-BR interpersonal factor. The deficiency in self-concept clarity predicted an elevated score on the SPQ-BR cognitive, interpersonal, and disorganization schizotypy symptoms. We argue that a lack of self-concept clarity manifested in both the hyperreflexivity level (measured by absorption) and the metallization level (measured by empathy). We argue that the IDM is a reliable way to interpret functioning with different levels of schizotypy.

Schizotypy and mentalizing: An fMRI study

INTRODUCTION

Schizotypy is a personality trait characterized by subclinical schizophrenia symptoms. Individuals with schizophrenia typically display behavioral mentalizing deficits and altered neural correlates during mentalizing. While schizotypy has been inconsistently related to behavioral mentalizing skills, its neural correlates of mentalizing are understudied so far. With this study we tested the association between schizotypy traits in healthy subjects and mentalizing-related neural correlates to provide new insights into neural processes associated with subclinical schizophrenia traits.

METHODS

Brain activation was measured using fMRI during an interactive mentalizing paradigm (Prisoner's Dilemma Game) in 164 healthy subjects. The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ-B) was administered to assess the three dimensions of schizotypy, i.e., cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal and disorganized.

RESULTS

We found that interpersonal schizotypy was significantly negatively correlated with brain activation in bilateral precunei and right caudate nucleus (among others) during mentalizing. By contrast, disorganized schizotypy was significantly positively correlated with mentalizing-associated neural activation in right precuneus, left middle cingulate cortex and right cerebellar hemisphere. No significant associations for cognitive-perceptual schizotypy and the SPQ-B total score were found.

DISCUSSION

Our study showed that interpersonal and disorganized schizotypy are associated with neural correlates of mentalizing in brain regions that are involved in self-processing and mentalizing. These brain regions have also been linked to mentalizing in schizophrenia.

Negative Schizotypy and Altered Functional Connectivity During Facial Emotion Processing

BACKGROUND

Impairment in facial emotion perception is an important domain of social cognition deficits in schizophrenia. Although impaired facial emotion perception has been found in individuals with negative schizotypy (NS), little is known about the corresponding change in brain functional connectivity.

METHODS

Sixty-four participants were classified into a high NS group (n = 34) and a low NS group (n = 30) based on their total scores on the Chapman scales for physical and social anhedonia. All participants undertook a facial emotion discrimination functional imaging task that consisted of four emotional valences (angry, fear, happy, and neutral). For univariate analysis, the signal change at the bilateral amygdala was compared for each emotional contrast using SPSS (P < .05). For the functional connectivity analysis, we calculated the beta-series functional connectivity of the bilateral amygdala with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and compared the group differences in SPM12 (P < .05, small volume family-wise error correction).

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between the high and low NS groups in accuracy and reaction time in the facial emotion discrimination task. The high NS group showed reduced brain activations at the amygdala under fearful and neutral conditions. Reduced functional connectivity between the amygdala and the mPFC/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex under the happy and fearful conditions in the high NS group was also found.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that the individuals with high NS showed altered brain activity and functional connectivity at the amygdala during facial emotion processing and provide new evidence for understanding social cognition deficits in at-risk individuals.

Dimensional Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised (SPQ-BR) Scores Across American and Spanish Samples

The main goal of the present study was to test the measurement equivalence of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised (SPQ-BR) scores in a large sample of Spanish and American non-clinical young adults. The sample was made up of 5,625 young adults (M = 19.65 years; SD = 2.53; 38.5% males). Study of the internal structure, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), revealed that SPQ-BR items were grouped in a theoretical internal structure of nine first-order factors. Moreover, three or four second-order factor and bifactor models showed adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Multigroup CFA showed that the nine lower-order factor models of the SPQ-BR had configural and weak measurement invariance and partial strong measurement invariance across country. The reliability of the SPQ-BR scores, estimated with omega, ranged from 0.67 to 0.91. Using the item response theory framework, the SPQ-BR provides more accurate information at the medium and high end of the latent trait. Statistically significant differences were found in the raw scores of the SPQ-BR subscales and dimensions across samples. The American group scored higher than the Spanish group in all SPQ-BR domains except Ideas of Reference and Suspiciousness. The finding of comparable factor structure in cross-cultural samples would lend further support to the continuum model of psychosis spectrum disorders. In addition, these results provide new information about the factor structure of schizotypal traits and support the validity and utility of this measure in cross-cultural research.

Cognitive Correlates of Different Mentalizing Abilities in Individuals with High and Low Trait Schizotypy: Findings from an Extreme-Group Design

Mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits in schizophrenia have been studied to great extent, but studies involving samples of trait schizotypy yield ambiguous results. Executive functions like cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and agency are all prerequisites of mentalizing, and it is assumed that the impairment of these functions contributes to ToM deficits in schizophrenia. Whether these impairments influence the ToM performance of people with high trait schizotypy remains unclear. Although impaired self-agency has repeatedly been identified in people with schizotypy, its role in mentalizing is yet to be investigated. The main aim of this study was to explore whether deficits in cognitive and affective ToM can be found in high trait schizotypy, and to identify in what way these deficits are related to the positive and negative dimensions of schizotypy. The secondary aim was to examine whether these deficits correlate with executive functions. Based on the dimensional view of the schizophrenia spectrum, an extreme-group design was applied to non-clinical volunteers demonstrating high (N = 39) and low (N = 47) trait schizotypy. Affective and cognitive ToM were investigated using the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition, a sensitive and video-based measurement. Cognitive inhibition was assessed using the Stroop Test, and cognitive flexibility was analyzed using the Trail-Making Test. Agency was measured using a computerized self-agency paradigm. Participants in the high-schizotypy group performed significantly worse in the affective ToM task (d = 0.79), and their overall ToM performance was significantly impaired (d = 0.60). No between-group differences were found with regards to cognitive ToM, executive functions, and self-agency. Cognitive flexibility correlated negatively with positive schizotypy, and contributed to a worse overall and affective ToM. Impaired cognitive inhibition contributed to undermentalizing-type errors. It was found that non-clinical participants with high trait (positive) schizotypy - especially those with slight executive-function deficits - may have difficulties in understanding the emotional state of others and consequently in functioning in social situations.

Social perception in synaesthesia for colour

Synaesthesia is a rare phenomenon in which stimulation in one modality (e.g., audition) evokes a secondary percept not associated with the first (e.g., colour). Prior work has suggested links between synaesthesia and other neurodevelopmental conditions that are linked to altered social perception abilities. With this in mind, here we sought to examine social perception abilities in grapheme-colour synaesthesia (where achromatic graphemes evoke colour experiences) by examining facial identity and facial emotion perception in synaesthetes and controls. Our results indicate that individuals who experience grapheme-colour synaesthesia outperformed controls on tasks involving fine visual discrimination of facial identity and emotion, but not on tasks involving holistic face processing. These findings are discussed in the context of broader perceptual and cognitive traits previously associated with synaesthesia for colour, with the suggestion that performance benefits shown by grapheme-colour synaesthetes may be related to domain-general visual discrimination biases observed in this group.

Schizotypal personality questionnaire--brief revised (updated): An update of norms, factor structure, and item content in a large non-clinical young adult sample

This study updates and provides evidence for the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of a standard instrument for detection and measurement of schizotypy in non-clinical young adults. Schizotypy represents a set of traits on which both nonclinical and schizophrenia-spectrum populations vary meaningfully. These traits are linked to biological, cognitive, and social dimensions of serious mental illness (SMI), to clinical and subclinical variation in personal and social functioning, and to risk for SMI. Reliable and valid identification of schizotypal traits has important implications for clinical practice and research. Four consecutive independent samples of undergraduates were administered the SPQ-BR (N=2552). Confirmatory factor analyses suggested a minor item wording change improved reliability, and this Updated questionnaire was implemented for three-quarters of the sample (SPQ-BRU). A, single-order, nine-factor structure had acceptable psychometric properties. The best fitting second-order structure included four higher-order factors that distinguished Social Anxiety and Interpersonal factors. This differentiation was supported by differential relationships with treatment history. The Disorganized factor had the greatest unique relationship with personal and family treatment history. With few exceptions, factor loadings showed stability across samples. Overall, the higher-order and lower-order factors of schizotypy demonstrated reliability and convergent and discriminant validity; detailed psychometric data are presented in a supplement.

Schizotypy and impaired basic face recognition? Another non-confirmatory study

AIM

Although schizotypy has been found to be reliably associated with a reduced recognition of facial affect, the few studies that have tested the association between basic face recognition abilities and schizotypy have found mixed results. This study formally tested the association in a large non-clinical sample with established neurological measures of face recognition.

METHODS

Two hundred and twenty-seven participants completed the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences schizotypy scale and completed the Famous Faces Test and the Cardiff Repeated Recognition Test for Faces.

RESULTS

No association between any schizotypal dimension and performance on either of the facial recognition and learning tests was found. The null results can be accepted with a high degree of confidence.

CONCLUSIONS

Further additional evidence is provided for a lack of association between schizotypy and basic face recognition deficits.

Exaggerated perception of facial expressions is increased in individuals with schizotypal traits

Emotional facial expressions are indispensable communicative tools, and social interactions involving facial expressions are impaired in some psychiatric disorders. Recent studies revealed that the perception of dynamic facial expressions was exaggerated in normal participants, and this exaggerated perception is weakened in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Based on the notion that ASD and schizophrenia spectrum disorder are at two extremes of the continuum with respect to social impairment, we hypothesized that schizophrenic characteristics would strengthen the exaggerated perception of dynamic facial expressions. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationship between the perception of facial expressions and schizotypal traits in a normal population. We presented dynamic and static facial expressions, and asked participants to change an emotional face display to match the perceived final image. The presence of schizotypal traits was positively correlated with the degree of exaggeration for dynamic, as well as static, facial expressions. Among its subscales, the paranoia trait was positively correlated with the exaggerated perception of facial expressions. These results suggest that schizotypal traits, specifically the tendency to over-attribute mental states to others, exaggerate the perception of emotional facial expressions.

Dimensional schizotypy and social cognition: an fMRI imaging study

Impairment in empathy has been demonstrated in patients with schizophrenia and individuals with psychosis proneness. In the present study, we examined the neural correlates underlying theory of mind (ToM) and empathy and the relationships between these two social cognitive abilities with schizotypy. Fifty-six first-year college students (31 males, 25 females) between 17 and 21 years of age (M = 19.3, SD = 0.9) from a medical university in China participated. All participants undertook a comic strips functional imaging task that specifically examined both empathy and ToM. In addition, they completed two self-report scales: the Chapman Psychosis Proneness scale and the Interpersonal Responsivity Index (IRI). Results showed that both empathy and ToM conditions of the task were associated with brain activity in the middle temporal gyrus, the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the precuneus and the posterior cingulate gyrus. In addition, we found positive correlations between negative schizotypy and brain activity in regions involved in social cognition, namely, the middle temporal gyrus, the TPJ, as well as the medial prefrontal gyrus. These findings highlight that different dimensions of schizotypy may show different associations with brain regions involved in social cognitive abilities. More importantly, the positive correlation between brain activity and anhedonia suggests the presence of compensatory mechanisms in high-risk populations.

Schizotypy: looking back and moving forward

This article introduces and reviews the history of the construct of schizotypy for the special section appearing in the journal. Schizotypy offers a useful construct for understanding the etiology, development, and expression of schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology and a unifying construct for linking a broad continuum of clinical and subclinical manifestations. The article reviews the descriptive psychopathology roots of schizotypy, Meehl and Claridge's classical formulations of the construct (including the debate about dimensional vs taxonic structure), and the need for a comprehensive, multidimensional model of schizotypy. The article briefly reviews the wide empirical literature supporting schizotypy and also examines several criticisms and misconceptions about the construct and research methods used to assess it. Finally, the article offers several suggested goals for future schizotypy research.

Cognition and brain function in schizotypy: a selective review

Schizotypy refers to a set of personality traits thought to reflect the subclinical expression of the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. Here, we review the cognitive and brain functional profile associated with high questionnaire scores in schizotypy. We discuss empirical evidence from the domains of perception, attention, memory, imagery and representation, language, and motor control. Perceptual deficits occur early and across various modalities. While the neural mechanisms underlying visual impairments may be linked to magnocellular dysfunction, further effects may be seen downstream in higher cognitive functions. Cognitive deficits are observed in inhibitory control, selective and sustained attention, incidental learning, and memory. In concordance with the cognitive nature of many of the aberrations of schizotypy, higher levels of schizotypy are associated with enhanced vividness and better performance on tasks of mental rotation. Language deficits seem most pronounced in higher-level processes. Finally, higher levels of schizotypy are associated with reduced performance on oculomotor tasks, resembling the impairments seen in schizophrenia. Some of these deficits are accompanied by reduced brain activation, akin to the pattern of hypoactivations in schizophrenia spectrum individuals. We conclude that schizotypy is a construct with apparent phenomenological overlap with schizophrenia and stable interindividual differences that covary with performance on a wide range of perceptual, cognitive, and motor tasks known to be impaired in schizophrenia. The importance of these findings lies not only in providing a fine-grained neurocognitive characterization of a personality constellation known to be associated with real-life impairments, but also in generating hypotheses concerning the aetiology of schizophrenia.

Schizotypy as an organizing framework for social and affective sciences

Schizotypy, defined in terms of commonly occurring personality traits related to the schizophrenia spectrum, has been an important construct for understanding the neurodevelopment and stress-diathesis of schizophrenia. However, as schizotypy nears its sixth decade of application, it is important to acknowledge its impressively rich literature accumulating outside of schizophrenia research. In this article, we make the case that schizotypy has considerable potential as a conceptual framework for understanding individual differences in affective and social functions beyond those directly involved in schizophrenia spectrum pathology. This case is predicated on (a) a burgeoning literature noting anomalies in a wide range of social functioning, affiliative, positive and negative emotional, expressive, and social cognitive systems, (b) practical and methodological features associated with schizotypy research that help facilitate empirical investigation, and (c) close ties to theoretical constructs of central importance to affective and social science (eg, stress diathesis, neural compensation). We highlight recent schizotypy research, ie providing insight into the nature of affective and social systems more generally. This includes current efforts to clarify the neurodevelopmental, neurobiological, and psychological underpinnings of affiliative drives, hedonic capacity, social cognition, and stress responsivity systems. Additionally, we discuss neural compensatory and resilience factors that may mitigate the expression of stress-diathesis and functional outcome, and highlight schizotypy's potential role for understanding cultural determinants of social and affective functions.

The clinical characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder associated with high levels of schizotypy

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to examine the characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) associated with high levels of schizotypy.

METHODS

Using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) with 177 individuals with OCD, patients with OCD and high levels of schizotypy (OCD-HS) were compared to patients with OCD and low levels of schizotypy (OCD-LS) on a range of clinical characteristics. Self-report and clinician-administered instruments were used. Results were adjusted for the severity of OCD symptoms, age, marital status and comorbidity using logistic regression.

RESULTS

Patients with OCD-HS were younger and less likely to have been married. OCD-HS was associated with higher rates of symmetry/order obsessions, ordering/arranging compulsions, checking compulsions, co-occurring major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders and greater general psychopathology. Previously reported associations, such as higher total scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) were not significant when adjusted for differences in demographic variables and comorbidity.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with OCD-HS were associated with specific OCD symptoms and comorbid conditions and may warrant a specific treatment approach.

Greater positive schizotypy relates to reduced N100 activity during rejection scenes

Social anxiety due to rejection sensitivity (RS) exacerbates psychosis-like experiences in the general population. While reduced dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity during social rejection in high schizotypy has suggested self-distancing from rejection, earlier stages of mental processing such as feature encoding could also contribute to psychosis-like experiences. This study aimed to determine the stage of mental processing of social rejection that relates to positive schizotypy. Forty-one healthy participants were assessed for schizotypy and RS. Event-related potential amplitudes (ERPs) were measured at frontal, temporal and parieto-occipital sites and their cortical sources (dACC, temporal pole and lingual gyrus) at early (N100) and late (P300 and late slow wave, LSW) timeframes during rejection, acceptance and neutral scenes. ERPs were compared between social interaction types. Correlations were performed between positive schizotypy (defined as the presence of perceptual aberrations, hallucinatory experiences and magical thinking), RS and ERPs during rejection. Amplitude was greater during rejection than acceptance or neutral conditions at the dACC-P300, parieto-occipital-P300, dACC-LSW and frontal-LSW. RS correlated positively with positive schizotypy. Reduced dACC N100 activity during rejection correlated with greater positive schizotypy and RS. Reduced dACC N100 activity and greater RS independently predicted positive schizotypy. An N100 deficit that indicates reduced feature encoding of rejection scenes increases with greater positive schizotypy and RS. Higher RS shows that a greater tendency to misattribute ambiguous social situations as rejecting also increases with positive schizotypy. These two processes, namely primary bottom-up sensory processing and secondary misattribution of rejection, combine to increase psychosis-like experiences.

Social cognition in serious mental illness

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Social cognition represents a fundamental skill for effective social behavior. It is nowadays widely accepted that individuals suffering from serious mental illness are impaired in this domain.

RECENT FINDINGS

Studies published since June 2012 have been reviewed, with a particular focus on theory of mind, social perception, social knowledge, attributional bias, and emotion processing in patients suffering from schizophrenia and mood disorders.

SUMMARY

The reviewed literature supports previous studies on deficits in social cognition in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, and underscores their relevance in the psychosocial context.

Genetics, cognition, and neurobiology of schizotypal personality: a review of the overlap with schizophrenia

Schizotypy refers to a set of temporally stable traits that are observed in the general population and that resemble the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. Here, we review evidence from studies on genetics, cognition, perception, motor and oculomotor control, brain structure, brain function, and psychopharmacology in schizotypy. We specifically focused on identifying areas of overlap between schizotypy and schizophrenia. Evidence was corroborated that significant overlap exists between the two, covering the behavioral brain structural and functional as well molecular levels. In particular, several studies showed that individuals with high levels of schizotypal traits exhibit alterations in neurocognitive task performance and underlying brain function similar to the deficits seen in patients with schizophrenia. Studies of brain structure have shown both volume reductions and increase in schizotypy, pointing to schizophrenia-like deficits as well as possible protective or compensatory mechanisms. Experimental pharmacological studies have shown that high levels of schizotypy are associated with (i) enhanced dopaminergic response in striatum following administration of amphetamine and (ii) improvement of cognitive performance following administration of antipsychotic compounds. Together, this body of work suggests that schizotypy shows overlap with schizophrenia across multiple behavioral and neurobiological domains, suggesting that the study of schizotypal traits may be useful in improving our understanding of the etiology of schizophrenia.