Interpretation of ambiguous and unambiguous idiomatic statements in high and low schizotypal individuals

Adopting a continuum perspective, this study examined figurative language comprehension in individuals with high or low levels of schizotypy within a non-clinical population. We investigated whether difficulties in figurative language processing are specifically driven by the presence of a competing literal interpretation. We hypothesized that higher schizotypy would be associated with fewer figurative responses and more literal and concrete responses for ambiguous idioms only, with no comparable effect for unambiguous idioms. A total of 377 French-speaking adults from the general population completed an idiom comprehension task and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Based on total SPQ scores, 139 participants were included in the group analyses (73 high schizotypy, 66 low schizotypy). The task combined two methodological approaches previously examined separately by including both ambiguous and unambiguous idioms while distinguishing figurative, literal, and concrete response options. Participants with high schizotypy produced significantly fewer figurative responses and significantly more concrete responses than those with low schizotypy, whereas no difference was observed for literal responses. Importantly, these group differences were found regardless of idiom ambiguity, indicating that they were not specifically driven by the presence of a competing literal interpretation. These findings suggest that reduced figurative interpretations in schizotypy cannot be explained solely by competition from a plausible literal interpretation. More importantly, they highlight that distinguishing literal from concrete response options may help clarify previous inconsistencies in figurative language research in schizotypy and schizophrenia.