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Mentalising, schizotypy, and schizophrenia
1Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. robyn@rosella.bhs.mq.edu.au
Cognition
|July 8, 1999
Summary
Defective mentalising, the ability to understand others' mental states, is linked to psychosis-proneness. Poor mentalising in adults may predict psychotic-like traits, suggesting a fundamental role in schizophrenia development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
Background:
- Schizophrenia is associated with impaired mentalising abilities.
- The primary role of mentalising deficits in schizophrenia remains debated.
- Alternative theories suggest these deficits are secondary to asociality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between mentalising ability and schizotypal traits in non-clinical adults.
- To test whether defective mentalising is a primary cause or secondary consequence of psychosis.
- To explore the underlying cognitive mechanisms of mentalising deficits.
Main Methods:
- Assessed mentalising using a false-belief picture sequencing task.
- Examined self-reported schizotypal traits in non-clinical participants.
- Tested alternative explanations for selective mentalising deficits.
Main Results:
- Selective mentalising deficits were found in high schizotypal non-clinical subjects.
- Poor mentalisers reported more psychotic-like and asocial traits.
- Neither executive planning nor inhibition deficits fully explained the observed deficits.
Conclusions:
- Defective mentalising may be a primary factor in psychosis-proneness, not solely linked to asociality.
- Findings support continuity models of psychosis.
- A domain-specific cognitive module for mental state inference may be dysfunctional in psychotic-like traits.