title: A review of abnormalities in the perception of visual illusions in schizophrenia.
abstract: Specific abnormalities of vision in schizophrenia have been observed to affect high-level and some low-level integration mechanisms, suggesting that people with schizophrenia may experience anomalies across different stages in the visual system affecting either early or late processing or both. Here, we review the research into visual illusion perception in schizophrenia and the issues which previous research has faced. One general finding that emerged from the literature is that those with schizophrenia are mostly immune to the effects of high-level illusory displays, but this effect is not consistent across all low-level illusions. The present review suggests that this resistance is due to the weakening of top-down perceptual mechanisms and may be relevant to the understanding of symptoms of visual distortion rather than hallucinations as previously thought.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hodgekins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Philippe A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Chouinard
authors.affiliation: Psychotic Disorders Division, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Virginie-Anne
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Chouinard
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. i.sperandio@uea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sperandio
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology; D009903:Optical Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: High-level vision; Low-level vision; Schizophrenia; Visual illusions