Disorder of attention in individuals with schizotypal personality.

This study was designed to examine disorder of switching attention in normal individuals with schizotypal personality. High scorers on the physical anhedonia (PA) and schizophrenism (SZ) scales of a questionnaire constructed to measure schizotypy were compared with a group of control subjects. A reaction time test was used that required switching attention across or between auditory and visual modalities. It was found that the high PA scores and the high SZ scorers showed a deficit of shifting attention across modalities compared with the control subjects.