Abstract
Background
Certain traits of positive schizotypy, such as odd beliefs, unusual perceptual experiences, suspiciousness, and referential thinking show associations with aberrant salience. Positive schizotypy may involve hyper-attribution of salience toward insignificant events, whereas negative schizotypy may involve hypo-attribution of salience, even toward important events. Salience attribution is thought to involve dopamine-mediated processes, a mechanism that appears disrupted in schizotypy; however, little is known about the cognitive processes potentially underlying salience attribution.
Methods
The present study assessed the relationship between latent inhibition and aberrant salience, as well as their associations with positive and negative schizotypy. Salience was measured across various levels of processing, including sensitivity to visual salience, behavioral and cognitive outcomes on a contingency illusion task, and self-reported experience of salience.
Results
Schizotypy symptoms were differentially associated with self-reported experiences of aberrant salience: positive schizotypy showed positive associations and negative schizotypy showed inverse associations. Significant salience effects were found across all participants, suggesting that task manipulations were successful; however, neither schizotypy dimension was associated with visual salience, contingency illusions, or latent inhibition. Additionally, salience measures were generally unassociated across levels of processing.
Discussion
Salience processing across perceptual, behavioral, and experiential levels likely involves different mechanisms, some of which may not show major disruption in subclinical manifestations of schizotypy. Inclusion of social and affective factors in addition to cognitive variables is recommended for future study.