Sensing the Worst: Neurophenomenological Perspectives on Neutral Stimuli Misperception in Schizophrenia Spectrum.
Mariateresa Sestito, Josef Parnas, Carlo Maggini, Vittorio Gallese
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00269 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Secondary analysis of a prior study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients with schizophrenia spectrum conditions |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Aberrant salience Affect recognition Delusions Emotion Hyper-reflexivity Neutral stimuli misperception Schizophrenia spectrum |
| Key points | Patients with schizophrenia spectrum conditions who misinterpreted neutral auditory cues as negatively valenced showed higher scores on Perplexity, Bizarre Delusions, and Disorganization dimensions. Bizarre Delusions were positively associated with Perplexity and Self-Disorder, which the authors argue suggests psychotic symptoms are directly linked to patients' subjectivity. The authors propose a framework bridging molecular neurochemistry, systems neuroscience, and psychopathology to explain neutral stimuli misperception. |
Abstract
While investigating social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, prominent evidence has been found that patients with schizophrenia show a tendency to misclassify neutral stimuli as negatively valenced. Within this population, patients presenting delusions are more prone to this phenomenon. In a previous study, Schizophrenia spectrum (SzSp) patients rated positive, negative and neutral stimuli that were multimodally presented, while assessed with a checklist exploring anomalous subjective experiences and evaluated for positive and negative symptomatology. In the present work, we aimed to further explore the relationship between neutral stimuli misperception, anomalous experiences and positive/negative symptoms in SzSp patients. To this end, we adopted a dimensional approach by reconstructing from available data: (1) four a priori scales representing essential dimensions of SzSp experiential pathology following Parnas et al. (2005); and (2) five clinically meaningful factors to describe illness severity derived by Toomey et al. (1997). Results showed that although overall patients correctly recognized the target emotions, those who misinterpreted neutral auditory cues as negatively valenced also presented higher scores in Perplexity (PY), Bizarre Delusions (BD) and Disorganization (Di) dimensions. Moreover, a positive association between BD and both PY and Self-Disorder (SD) dimensions emerged, suggesting that psychotic symptoms may be directly linked to patients' subjectivity. In an attempt to comprehensively capture the multilayered neutral stimuli misperception phenomenon in SzSp, we aimed at bridging phenomenology and neurobiology by connecting the levels of molecular neurochemistry (i.e., altered dopaminergic neurotransmission), system neuroscience (aberrant salience of perceptual details) and psychopathology (the chain involving hyper-reflexivity, self-disorders and the emergence of delusions).
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences | 1980 | Retrospective study | n = 78 |
| Visual Phenomenology of the LSD Flashback Persons with a history of LSD use | 1983 | Observational cohort | n = 123 |
| The neurophenomenology of neutral hypnosis. Individuals of high, medium, and low hypnotizability | 2013 | Observational cohort | n = 37 |
| The Phenomenology of Acute Organic Psychosis Patients with acute organic psychosis and acute schizophrenics | 1987 | Observational cohort | n = 148 |
| EEG oscillatory states as neuro-phenomenology of consciousness as revealed from patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states. Brain-damaged patients with disorders of consciousness and healthy-conscious subjects | 2012 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cites 6
- Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 2003
- Anomalous echo: Exploring abnormal experience correlates of emotional motor resonance in Schizophrenia Spectrum. Psychiatry Research September 30, 2015
- What are the neurocognitive correlates of basic self-disturbance in schizophrenia? Integrating phenomenology and neurocognition: Part 2 (aberrant salience). Schizophrenia Research January 2014
- The phenomenology and neurobiology of delusion formation during psychosis onset: Jaspers, Truman symptoms, and aberrant salience. Schizophrenia Bulletin March 2013
- Anomalous Subjective Experience among First-Admitted Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients: Empirical Investigation Psychopathology 2005
and 1 more in the library