title: Spatiotemporal processing of somatosensory stimuli in schizotypy.
abstract: Unusual interaction behaviors and perceptual aberrations, like those occurring in schizotypy and schizophrenia, may in part originate from impaired remapping of environmental stimuli in the body space. Such remapping is contributed by the integration of tactile and proprioceptive information about current body posture with other exteroceptive spatial information. Surprisingly, no study has investigated whether alterations in such remapping occur in psychosis-prone individuals. Four hundred eleven students were screened with respect to schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. A subgroup of them, classified as low, moderate, and high schizotypes were to perform a temporal order judgment task of tactile stimuli delivered on their hands, with both uncrossed and crossed arms. Results revealed marked differences in touch remapping in the high schizotypes as compared to low and moderate schizotypes. For the first time here we reveal that the remapping of environmental stimuli in the body space, an essential function to demarcate the boundaries between self and external world, is altered in schizotypy. Results are discussed in relation to recent models of 'self-disorders' as due to perceptual incoherence.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ambrosini
authors.affiliation: Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.|Laboratory of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University G. d'Annunzio &Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies - ITAB, Foundation University G. d'Annunzio, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costantini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011434:Proprioception; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013028:Space Perception; D055698:Touch Perception; D055815:Young Adult