title: Increased distractibility in schizotypy: Independent of individual differences in working memory capacity?
abstract: Individuals with schizophrenia typically show increased levels of distractibility. This has been attributed to impaired working memory capacity (WMC), since lower WMC is typically associated with higher distractibility, and schizophrenia is typically associated with impoverished WMC. Here, participants performed verbal and spatial serial recall tasks that were accompanied by to-be-ignored speech tokens. For the few trials wherein one speech token was replaced with a different token, impairment was produced to task scores (a deviation effect). Participants subsequently completed a schizotypy questionnaire and a WMC measure. Higher schizotypy scores were associated with lower WMC (as measured with operation span, OSPAN), but WMC and schizotypy scores explained unique variance in relation to the mean magnitude of the deviation effect. These results suggest that schizotypy is associated with heightened domain-general distractibility, but that this is independent of its relationship with WMC.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Central Lancashire , Preston , UK.|b Department of Building, Energy and Environmental Engineering , University of Gävle , Gävle , Sweden.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: c École de psychologie , Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vachon
authors.affiliation: b Department of Building, Energy and Environmental Engineering , University of Gävle , Gävle , Sweden.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sörqvist
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Distraction; Domain-specificity; Schizophrenia; Schizotypy; Verbal working memory; Visuo-spatial working memory; Working memory capacity