Feature binding and detachment in psychosis: A virtual reality study.

BACKGROUND

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) significantly impact daily functioning, particularly through cognitive deficits like memory impairment. Traditionally attributed to neurobiological factors, recent evidence highlights the role of psychological processes like detachment, which may disrupt episodic memory encoding and retrieval by impairing feature binding. This study used a virtual reality (VR) paradigm to explore whether state detachment in SSDs is linked to impaired feature binding for adverse stimuli.

METHODS

Twenty-five SSD patients from Dutch mental health centers and 25 individuals from the general population participated. Using an immersive VR paradigm, participants navigated a virtual shopping mall, interacted with 3D avatars, and identified their emotional facial expressions. Three memory tests followed: avatar identity recognition (basic memory), binding emotional expressions to avatars, and binding avatar identity to the encounter's temporal order. State detachment was measured using the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS).

RESULTS

The SSD and comparison group did not display significant performance differences in any of the three feature binding tasks. However, across groups, results indicated that higher state detachment levels corresponded with worsened identity-emotion binding specifically for angry faces.

CONCLUSION

The present study provides tentative empirical support for the role of detachment in feature binding deficits for angry faces both in the patient and comparison group. Future studies should further explore the impact of psychological mechanisms like detachment on memory dysfunction, particularly regarding aversive stimuli.