Abstract
Looking at a pair of objects is easy when automatic grouping mechanisms bind these objects together, but visual exploration can also be more flexible. It is possible to mentally “re-group” two objects that are not only separate but belong to different pairs of objects. “Re-grouping” is in conflict with automatic grouping, since it entails a separation of each item from the set it belongs to. This ability appears to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Here we check if this impairment is selective, which would suggest a dissociation between grouping and “re-grouping,” or if it impacts on usual, automatic grouping, which would call for a better understanding of the interactions between automatic grouping and “re-grouping.” Sixteen outpatients with schizophrenia and healthy controls had to identify two identical and contiguous target figures within a display of circles and squares alternating around a fixation point. Eye-tracking was used to check central fixation. The target pair could be located in the same or separate hemifields. Identical figures were grouped by a connector (grouped automatically) or not (to be re-grouped). Attention modulation of automatic grouping was tested by manipulating the proportion of connected and unconnected targets, thus prompting subjects to focalize on either connected or unconnected pairs. Both groups were sensitive to automatic grouping in most conditions, but patients were unusually slowed down for connected targets while focalizing on unconnected pairs. In addition, this unusual effect occurred only when targets were presented within the same hemifield. Patients and controls differed on this asymmetry between within- and across-hemifield presentation, suggesting that patients with schizophrenia do not re-group figures in the same way as controls do. We discuss possible implications on how “re-grouping” ties in with ongoing, automatic perception in healthy volunteers.
Highlights
We are able to explore and select information in the environment in a flexible way and usually do not experience any limits or difficulty when doing so
We question what happens when attention is directed toward object pairs that are unrelated and do not form a global shape. We argue this question is not resolved by usual mechanisms of grouping, and we suspect it might be crucial to understand the impairments in patients with schizophrenia
INTEGRATING GROUPING AND “RE-GROUPING”: OUR PROPOSAL We argue that the results observed in patients with schizophrenia shed light on the difficulties encountered when exploring the visual environment in a flexible way while maintaining a sensation of stability of the outer world
Summary
We are able to explore and select information in the environment in a flexible way and usually do not experience any limits or difficulty when doing so. In a cluttered visual scene, we can mentally select and extract visual information and even relate objects that have nothing in common. This ability appears to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia, and may impact on how they adapt to the visual environment. It has been related to a more general difficulty at organizing information that is expressed at a clinical level (Silverstein and Keane, 2011). More generally it might contribute to objectify and better define the difficulties of patients at organizing information.
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