Higher proneness to multisensory illusions is driven by reduced temporal sensitivity in people with high schizotypal traits.
Francesca Ferri, Agnese Venskus, Francesca Fotia, Jason Cooke, Vincenzo Romei
Consciousness and Cognition October 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.09.006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | General-population participants with low and high schizotypal scores |
| Measures | double-flash illusion |
| Keywords | Illusions Multisensory Schizophrenia Schizotypy Temporal sensitivity |
| Key findings | Participants with high schizotypal scores showed greater proneness to the double-flash illusion than those with low scores. This higher proneness was fully explained by significantly reduced temporal sensitivity to integrate sensory information. The authors conclude that reduced temporal sensitivity accounts for enhanced illusion proneness in people at higher risk and represents an early marker of psychosis. |
Abstract
A coherent sense of self, typically altered in schizophrenia, is accompanied by a coherent ability to integrate sensory information. According to the idea of a psychosis continuum, high schizotypal traits in the general population may be associated to higher proneness to multisensory illusions, akin to schizophrenia. We directly tested this hypothesis by means of the double-flash illusion in participants with low and high schizotypal scores. We confirmed the higher proneness to illusions in the high-schizotypal group. Crucially, such higher proneness was fully explained by a significantly reduced temporal sensitivity to integrate sensory information. We conclude that reduced temporal sensitivity accounts for enhanced proneness to illusions in people at higher risk and represents an early marker of psychosis.