Kocsis-Bogár Krisztina, Kotulla Simone, Maier Susanne, Voracek Martin, Hennig-Fast Kristina
Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaVienna, Austria.
Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of ViennaVienna, Austria.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 6;8:922. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00922. eCollection 2017.
Mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits in schizophrenia have been studied to great extent, but studies involving samples of trait schizotypy yield ambiguous results. Executive functions like cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and agency are all prerequisites of mentalizing, and it is assumed that the impairment of these functions contributes to ToM deficits in schizophrenia. Whether these impairments influence the ToM performance of people with high trait schizotypy remains unclear. Although impaired self-agency has repeatedly been identified in people with schizotypy, its role in mentalizing is yet to be investigated. The main aim of this study was to explore whether deficits in cognitive and affective ToM can be found in high trait schizotypy, and to identify in what way these deficits are related to the positive and negative dimensions of schizotypy. The secondary aim was to examine whether these deficits correlate with executive functions. Based on the dimensional view of the schizophrenia spectrum, an extreme-group design was applied to non-clinical volunteers demonstrating high ( = 39) and low ( = 47) trait schizotypy. Affective and cognitive ToM were investigated using the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition, a sensitive and video-based measurement. Cognitive inhibition was assessed using the Stroop Test, and cognitive flexibility was analyzed using the Trail-Making Test. Agency was measured using a computerized self-agency paradigm. Participants in the high-schizotypy group performed significantly worse in the affective ToM task ( = 0.79), and their overall ToM performance was significantly impaired ( = 0.60). No between-group differences were found with regards to cognitive ToM, executive functions, and self-agency. Cognitive flexibility correlated negatively with positive schizotypy, and contributed to a worse overall and affective ToM. Impaired cognitive inhibition contributed to undermentalizing-type errors. It was found that non-clinical participants with high trait (positive) schizotypy - especially those with slight executive-function deficits - may have difficulties in understanding the emotional state of others and consequently in functioning in social situations.
精神分裂症中的心理化或心理理论（ToM）缺陷已得到广泛研究，但涉及特质分裂型人格样本的研究结果却模棱两可。诸如认知抑制、认知灵活性和能动性等执行功能都是心理化的先决条件，并且人们认为这些功能的受损会导致精神分裂症中的ToM缺陷。这些损伤是否会影响高特质分裂型人格者的ToM表现仍不清楚。尽管在分裂型人格者中反复发现自我能动性受损，但其在心理化中的作用尚待研究。本研究的主要目的是探讨在高特质分裂型人格中是否能发现认知和情感ToM缺陷，并确定这些缺陷与分裂型人格的正负维度有何关联。次要目的是检验这些缺陷是否与执行功能相关。基于精神分裂症谱系的维度观点，对表现出高（= 39）和低（= 47）特质分裂型人格的非临床志愿者采用了极端组设计。使用《社会认知评估电影》（一种基于视频的敏感测量工具）对情感和认知ToM进行了研究。使用斯特鲁普测验评估认知抑制，使用连线测验分析认知灵活性。使用计算机化的自我能动性范式测量能动性。高分裂型人格组的参与者在情感ToM任务中的表现明显更差（= 0.79），并且他们的总体ToM表现明显受损（= 0.60）。在认知ToM、执行功能和自我能动性方面未发现组间差异。认知灵活性与阳性分裂型人格呈负相关，并导致总体和情感ToM表现更差。认知抑制受损导致心理化不足型错误。研究发现，具有高特质（阳性）分裂型人格的非临床参与者——尤其是那些有轻微执行功能缺陷的人——可能在理解他人的情绪状态方面存在困难，因此在社交场合中难以正常发挥功能。
