title: Evidence of reduced selective attention in schizotypal personality disorder.
abstract: It has been shown that high-schizotypy and schizophrenic participants demonstrate increased task-switching costs, although high-schizotypy participants present this pattern only in incongruent trials (Cimino & Haywood, 2008). In this study, we aim to explore whether this results from difficulties in selective attention or task control. A total of 18 participants with high levels of psychometrically defined schizotypy and 16 participants with low scores were tested in two different versions of a task-switching paradigm. Participants were asked to switch between attending to the color or the shape of bidimensional objects following a previous cue. Two versions of the task were investigated, one involving only switches in the perceptual dimension to attend (color or shape) and another also switching the response set. High-schizotypy subjects consistently showed increased switch costs in incongruent trials for both versions of the tasks, demonstrating a deficit in the selection of the perceptual dimension instead of the selection of the response rules.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Julian Michael Baxendale
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Breeze
authors.forename: Alexander James
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kirkham
authors.forename: Paloma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marí-Beffa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003463:Cues; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception