title: Perceptual hysteresis as a marker of perceptual inflexibility in schizophrenia.
abstract: People with schizophrenia are known to exhibit difficulties in the updating of their current belief states even in the light of disconfirmatory evidence. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that people with schizophrenia could also manifest perceptual inflexibility, or difficulties in the updating of their current sensory states. The presence of perceptual inflexibility might contribute both to the patients' altered perception of reality and the formation of some delusions as well as to their social cognition deficits. Here, we addressed this issue with a protocol of auditory hysteresis, a direct measure of sensory persistence, on a population of stabilized antipsychotic-treated schizophrenia patients and a sample of control subjects. Trials consisted of emotional signals (i.e., screams) and neutral signals (i.e., spectrally-rotated versions of the emotional stimuli) progressively emerging from white noise - Ascending Sequences - or progressively fading away in white noise - Descending Sequences. Results showed that patients presented significantly stronger hysteresis effects than control subjects, as evidenced by a higher rate of perceptual reports in Descending Sequences. The present study thus provides direct evidence of perceptual inflexibility in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Université Paris VI (UPMC), Paris, France; Institut Jean Nicod (IJN), UMR 8129 (CNRS, ENS, EHESS), Paris, France. Electronic address: jeanremy08@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jean-Rémy
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Université Paris VI (UPMC), Paris, France; Institut Jean Nicod (IJN), UMR 8129 (CNRS, ENS, EHESS), Paris, France; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), U960 (INSERM, CNRS, ENS), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dezecache
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (LSP), UMR 8248 (CNRS, ENS), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pressnitzer
authors.affiliation: Université Paris VI (UPMC), Paris, France; Department of Psychiatry, St-Antoine Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nuss
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean Nicod (IJN), UMR 8129 (CNRS, ENS, EHESS), Paris, France; École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dokic
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, St-Antoine Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean Nicod (IJN), UMR 8129 (CNRS, ENS, EHESS), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pacherie
authors.affiliation: Service Universitaire de Réhabilitation, Centre de Réhabilitation, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Lyon, France; Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives (CNC), UMR 5229 (CNRS), Bron Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Franck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Belief inflexibility; Perceptual hysteresis; Perceptual inflexibility; Predictive deficits; Schizophrenia