Positive symptoms and time perception in schizophrenia: A meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
• Distortions in time perception have been anecdotally linked to positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate the association between positive symptoms of schizophrenia and deficits in time processing.
• To determine if altered time perception is a cognitive marker in schizophrenia.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive meta-analysis of studies published between 1980 and 2017 was conducted.
• Searches included MEDLINE and Web of Science, scrutinizing articles and references for relevant research.
• Included studies utilized behavioral measures of interval timing, such as duration discrimination and temporal order judgment, in participants diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Main Results:

• The meta-analysis revealed a significant relationship between positive symptoms in schizophrenia and the overestimation of interval timing.
• This overestimation suggests an acceleration of the internal clock mechanism in affected individuals.
• Findings indicate a potential deficit in time processing performance linked to positive symptom severity.

Conclusions:

• Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with impaired time perception, specifically an overestimation of time intervals.
• These findings support the hypothesis that time processing deficits may be integral to the experience of psychosis in schizophrenia.
• Altered time perception could serve as a potential biomarker for psychosis severity in schizophrenia.