title: Increased distractibility to own name in psychotic patients with ideas and delusions of reference.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examined the relationship between ideas and delusions of reference (I/DOR) and attentional shift to a self-referential stimulus (subject's own name, SON).
  
  
  METHODS
  Psychotic patients with I/DOR (n = 20) and without I/DOR (n = 17) matched for age and education were tested for attentional shift to SON embedded in a background voice clip presented binaurally when engaging in an attention-demanding task (computerised Stroop task). Reaction time and accuracy in Stroop tasks with and without embedded SON were measured. I/DOR severity, other positive symptoms, negative symptoms and cognitive performance were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was significant interaction between conditions (Stroop tasks with and without SON) and groups (patients with and without I/DOR) on reaction time (F(1,32) = 4.22, p = .05). Simple main effects showed a significant mean difference in reaction time between conditions in patients with I/DOR (107.7 milliseconds, p = .001) but not in those without (5.8 milliseconds, p = .86). Within-subject difference in reaction time correlated with I/DOR severity scores (r = .33-.52, range; p < .05) and remained significant after controlling for other clinical and cognitive variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The significant interaction and simple main effect suggest that I/DOR are associated with a heightened attentional shift to SON. The SON paradigm can potentially be developed into a neurocognitive parameter of I/DOR. However, the lack of non-self stimuli in the SON paradigm limits the interpretation on whether I/DOR are associated with general or specific distractibility related to self-referential information and further studies are warranted.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Queen Mary Hospital , Hong Kong , People's Republic of China.|b Department of Psychiatry , The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lawson S C
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , People's Republic of China.|c Sau Po Centre on Ageing , The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Gloria H Y
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Eric Y H
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Psychotic disorders; attention; delusions; neuropsychiatry; psychopathology