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During recent years of schizophrenia research, many etiologies have been emphasized, some of them implicating infectious and autoimmune diseases. Many different infectious agents have been examined, but the root seems to stem from the secondary autoimmune deregulation, which can be caused by different infectious agents. Among the effects that autoimmune deregulation has on the body, one prominent effect is on the brain, resulting in either severe or mild encephalitis. The mild encephalitis that has been implicated as one of the causes of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has been associated with different pathogens, many of which can be transmitted by the household cat. Thus in the present research we have used the schizotypy personality construct model as an analog for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and the relationship between current schizotypy and childhood household cat interactions were examined. An online questionnaire was completed by 356 undergraduate students and assessed the current schizotypy using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief Revised (SPQ-BR), as well as questions about cat ownership and cat bites (puncturing skin) prior to age 13. While no significant relationship was found between childhood cat ownership and current schizotypy, individuals endorsing a cat bite prior to age 13 (N = 66) reported a significantly higher level of current overall schizotypy, which was largely driven by the Disorganized factor of the SPQ-BR.. This relationship should be explored further by examining the antibodies and sera of individuals with the schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

Prior research substantiates a relationship between psychopathy and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, which has begun to elucidate why some individuals with schizophrenia are violent. Unfortunately, this relationship has been limited to self-report. To objectively corroborate this finding, undergraduate students were recruited from an online screening administration of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. This resulted in 56 participants (52% male) with a mean age of 20.37 (SD = 4.74) and a wide range of schizotypy scores who participated in the experiment. Following completion of self-report measures, participants viewed 15 pictures (five neutral, five threatening, and five of others in distress) from the International Affective Pictures System while electrodermal activity was recorded from one palm. As expected, all participants exhibited increased peak skin conductance (SC) to both threat and distress pictures compared to neutral pictures; however; no difference was found between threat and distress pictures. Although the self-report relationship was replicated, neither total psychopathy nor total schizotypy were related to any SC variable. Therefore, it does not appear that increased schizotypy was related to a differential SC response to emotional pictures in our sample, even after testing for the potential moderating influence of anxiety and the Self-Centered Impulsivity factor of psychopathy. Total schizotypy was, however, significantly and positively related to the Personality Assessment Inventory Aggression scale (including the subscales of Aggressive Attitude and Physical Aggression) and the total score on the Beck’s Anxiety Inventory. Overall findings suggest that despite presence of the comorbidity in this subclinical population, subthreshold levels of both constructs do not relate to a reduced SC response to affective pictures as is seen in clinical psychopathy

Schizotypy is a sub-threshold syndrome associated with schizophrenia. Much of the research on schizotypy concerns its component features, one of which being blunted or constricted affect. While several investigations have addressed this common “negative” symptom within the context of schizophrenia, few have focused on schizotypy directly, and none have utilized psychophysiological measurement to examine affective constriction. The present investigation uses facial electromyography (EMG) to measure patterns of affective expression within a psychometrically defined schizotypal population when presented threatening and distressing pictures from the IAPS. Twenty-eight individuals with elevated schizotypal features and 20 healthy controls were recruited for this investigation. The participants observed the series of pictures and provided self-report ratings of affective valance and arousal while their physiological responses were recorded. The protocol used here closely matched that used by Bradley and Lang (2007) and produced a similar pattern of results across all participants on selfreported ratings and physiological measures. Results further suggest that those with schizotypal features did not differ from control participants in self-reported ratings of negative affect or autonomic arousal. A three-way interaction in facial EMG measurement revealed that while schizotypic males demonstrated the expected pattern of blunted facial affective expression, schizotypic females displayed the opposite pattern. That is, females with psychometrically schizotypy demonstrated significant elevations in negative facial affective expression while viewing distressing pictures. We argue that these findings reflect unidentified sex differences in affective expression in schizotypy, and we discuss implications for assessment and diagnostic procedures among individuals with personality disorders

Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit marked impairments on tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM) qualities, and preliminary research has indicated a positive link between these abilities. This study is the first to systematically explore this relationship in the related personality trait of schizotypy. In a study of 47 undergraduate students (23 males) reporting a wide continuous range of schizotypy, we found that females, but not males, exhibited a negative correlation between ToM and schizotypy, and an unexpected positive correlation between AM qualities and schizotypy. Factor score analysis within females indicated that disorganized schizotypy was the strongest correlate of both ToM (i.e., affective ToM; ability to infer emotions), and AM qualities (i.e., mental imagery vividness). Finally, independent of schizotypy and sex, ToM was negatively correlated with AM qualities. This negative association between ToM and AM as well as the positive relationship between schizotypy and AM (in females) distinguish findings in schizotypy from those in schizophrenia. Although, the qualities of AM in schizotypy are relatively unexplored in schizotypy, overlapping and AM-related constructs (e.g., mental image vividness, creativity) are enhanced in schizotypy. This phenomenon is theorized to occur due to a reduced latent inhibition process, which also reveals distinct patterns of sexual dimorphism in schizotypy. In sum, the current study found sex to be a critical variable in each hypothesis, demonstrating a unique pattern in females, but not males. It could be that distinct underlying mechanisms account for sex differences on ToM and AM tasks in schizophrenia-related disorders.

Olfactory identification deficits have received recent attention as a potentially useful endophenotype for schizophrenia. Examination of this deficit in individuals with schizotypal personality features (SPF) offers an alternative approach to multiple confounds present when examining individuals with schizophrenia. The aim of the current study was to compare the relative sensitivity of performance on measures of olfaction identification and sustained attention to the presence of SPF. Twenty-six undergraduates were defined as having SPF based on scoring in the top 10% of the Abbreviated Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ-B; mean age 19.6, SD = 1.1; 62% female). These individuals were compared to twenty-six controls (scoring lower than half a standard deviation above the mean; mean age 19.8, SD = 1.6; 62% female). All participants were administered the Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) section of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II). In addition, participants were administered the Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT) and a six-minute degraded-stimuli Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Group differences in performance indices of the CPT did not approach statistical significance. Similarly, there were no statistically significant group differences for males or females in performance on the B-SIT. Correlational analyses examined cognitive performance with a dimension score derived by summing quantitative ratings from the SPD items on the SCID-II. The SPD dimension score showed a statistically significant positive correlation with several performance indices of the CPT, including omission errors (rs(52) = .51, p ≤ .001) and commission errors (rs(52) = .38, p ≤ .005). In contrast, the B-SIT scores were not correlated with the SPD dimension score for males or females. Contrary to our hypothesis, results from the current study suggest that olfactory identification deficits may not represent a robust endophenotype consistently found in samples with schizotypal personality features. With regard to sustained attention, our differential findings suggest that schizotypal traits may be more adequately assessed through an interview by trained clinicians who use clinical judgment to determine the presence of phenotypic aspects of SPD (e.g., SCID-II), rather than relying on self-report measures (e.g., SPQ-B). Implications as well as limitations and future directions of these findings are discussed.

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<p dir="ltr">Compared to individuals low in schizotypal traits, those with elevated schizotypal traits present with social deficits and are at greater risk for developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and other forms of psychopathology. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a powerful tool for understanding the real-world behaviors of schizophrenia-spectrum populations. Although studies have effectively utilized EMA to examine important aspects of social interactions (i.e., how often people interact [likelihood], the complexity of the content in these interactions [depth], and how much pleasure they derive from these interactions [enjoyment]) in people with schizophrenia, few have explored differences in social interactions using EMA across schizotypal traits (i.e., positive, negative, and disorganized). In this study, we used EMA to collect data from three universities. Our primary aim was to evaluate if positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypal traits in college students were significantly linked to individuals’ likelihood, depth, and enjoyment of social interactions in their everyday lives. Our secondary aim was to investigate whether affect and stress play a role in individuals’ likelihood, depth, and enjoyment of social interactions. Results revealed that negative schizotypal traits more strongly predicted social interaction depth and enjoyment compared to positive and disorganized traits. Contrary to hypotheses, positive affect was a better predictor of social interaction outcomes than negative affect and stress. Several notable interactions between schizotypal traits and affect also emerged. Overall, this study increases understanding of how schizotypal traits and affect impact daily social interactions. These findings may inform future research aimed at improving and individualizing interventions for social functioning deficits in individuals with elevated positive, negative, and/or disorganized schizotypal traits.</p>