Psychosis-prone College Students Research Articles

Dissociative experience in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

The relationship between dissociative experiences and psychosis proneness was investigated in a sample of 523 college undergraduates. Participants were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Perceptual Aberration Scale, the Magical Ideation Scale, the Social Anhedonia Scale, and the Physical Anhedonia Scale. As hypothesized, the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales were positively correlated with the DES. The Social Anhedonia Scale had a modest correlation with the DES, but this relationship was largely mediated by the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales. The Physical Anhedonia Scale was uncorrelated with the DES. Exploratory factor analysis of the psychosis-proneness scales and the DES subscales resulted in a three-factor solution: dissociative experiences, positive schizotypy, and negative schizotypy. The DES depersonalization subscale loaded on both the dissociation and positive schizotypy factors.

Vocational interests and career indecision among psychosis-prone college students.

This study investigated the relationship between scores on scales that purport to measure psychosis-proneness and scores on vocational interests, identity, and differentiation scales in a sample of 233 college students who completed the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation scales, the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory, and the Career Decision Scale. The present findings are consistent with prior work indicating a sex-related association of scores on measures of psychosis-proneness and vocational interests. A positive correlation between scores on vocational indecision and measures of psychosis-proneness was also found, suggesting that both men and women who score high on psychosis-proneness find it difficult to formulate long-term career goals. Finally, there was no significant correlation between scores on measures of psychosis-proneness and Holland's Vocational Differentiation Index. Present results are discussed in light of previously reported sex differences among psychosis-prone adults and diagnosed schizophrenics. The implications of the findings for vocational counselors are also addressed.

Reexamination of executive functions in psychosis-prone college students

The verbal and nonverbal executive functions of 19 psychosis-prone and 19 normal controls were examined. Subjects completed the WAIS-R Block Design and Vocabulary subtests, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Controlled Word Association Test (COWAT), the Booklet Category Test (BCT), the Design Fluency Test (DFT), and the Trail Making Test (TMT) parts A and B. Analysis of the performance patterns on these measures revealed that psychosis-prone college students exhibit relative deficits on all of the above verbal and nonverbal measures of executive functions but not on measures of nonexecutive functions. These findings confirm previously reported studies that have correlated executive functions and pre-frontal structural deficits with schizotypal personality traits and provide additional support for the association between neuropsychological functions and certain personality traits.

Reexamination of mixed handedness in psychosis-prone college students

The hand preference of psychosis-prone college students was examined in two separate studies using the Annett Handedness Questionnaire. The first sample, subjects who completed the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation scales ( n=895), confirmed Chapman and Chapman's (1987a) report of greater mixed handedness in psychosis-prone college students. The second sample, 214 college students who completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), did not support Kim, Raine, Triphon and Green's (1992) findings of a correlation between mixed handedness and certain SPQ scales. The results of the current study are discussed in light of Overby's (1993) failure to replicate Chapman and Chapman's (1987a) study. The possible role of task conditions, skilled vs simple, in the emergence of atypical handedness in psychosis-prone college students is discussed.

Normal startle responding in psychosis-prone college students

Some researchers have predicted that subjects with high scores on questionnaires of psychosis-proneness would show deficiencies in the habituation and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex, similar to those seen with schizophrenics. In two experiments, startle eyeblink EMG was measured in physical anhedonics, perceptual aberrators, and normal controls. In Experiment 1 ( N = 64), eyeblink amplitude and probability habituated to both 85 and 100 dB SPL acoustic pulses. In Experiment 2 ( N = 48), acoustic prepulses at intensities of 55 or 70 dB SPL were presented with stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 60 or 120 msec before startle-eliciting stimuli at intensities of 85 and 100 dB SPL. Inhibition of startle was generally more pronounced when the prestimulus was more intense and at a longer SOA, and when the eliciting stimulus was more intense (for response amplitude). In both experiments, startle responses were larger and more probable for more intense eliciting stimuli. Also, the diagnosis group variable had no significant effect in either experiment. These results demonstrate that college students who produce high scores on scales of psychosis-proneness may not provide a good model for the perceptual gating deficits which have been demonstrated in schizophrenic patients, with regard to automatic measures of stimulus processing.

Psychosis-proneness and verbal memory in a college student population

Previous research has revealed numerous neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenics. Research on individuals with schizotypal personality features has also demonstrated similar neuropsychological deficits. However, the latter literature is limited in scope. This study examined verbal memory function in psychometrically identified (Chapman Scales) psychosis-prone college students ( n=409). Subjects were administered a standard verbal memory procedure (Logical Memory; Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised) as well as measures of verbal intelligence (Shipley Scale) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory). Results reveal no relationship between degree of schizotypic features and recall measures (immediate recall, delayed recall, and retention rate). Moreover, comparisons between low schizotypic subjects and those scoring at the extreme (greater than 2 standard deviations above the mean) also failed to reveal significant differences in recall. These results raise the possibility that memory deficits may be specific to schizophrenia and not the schizophrenia spectrum or that they are restricted to only those with the familial form of the disorder (i.e., those with family histories of schizophrenia).

Handedness patterns of psychosis-prone college students

In this study, I investigated the handedness patterns of large samples of hypothetically psychosis-prone college students. Psychosis-prone subjects who scored high on the Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation scale ( n = 173) or on the revised Physical Anhedonia scale ( n = 88) did not differ significantly from control subjects ( n = 929) in self-categorized, handedness patterns. These findings provide no support for the hypothesis that psychosis-prone college students are characterized by anomalous handedness patterns. Methodological factors that may have confounded the results of previous investigations in this area are discussed.

Do hypothetically psychosis prone college students belong in the schizophrenia spectrum?

Do hypothetically psychosis prone college students belong in the schizophrenia spectrum?

Perceptual asymmetry in psychosis-prone college students: Evidence for left-hemisphere overactivation.

Perceptual asymmetry in psychosis-prone college students: Evidence for left-hemisphere overactivation.

Perceptual asymmetry in psychosis-prone college students: evidence for left-hemisphere overactivation.

The hypothesis that psychosis-prone students demonstrate a pattern of exaggerated perceptual asymmetry across both left- and right-hemisphere dichotic-listening tasks (consonant-vowel [CV] and tonal contour discrimination) was investigated. Subjects who scored high on the Perceptual Aberration or Magical Ideation scale or both (n = 20) demonstrated a significantly exaggerated right-ear advantage on a CV task in relation to normal control subjects (n = 27) but showed a reduced left-ear advantage on a tone task. The hypothesis of exaggerated functional lateralization across hemispheres in the psychosis-prone subjects was not supported, but the results are consistent with a hypothesis of left hemisphere overactivation in this sample.

Spatial attention in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students

This study tested the hypothesis that psychosis-prone individuals show patterns of visual search that suggest a lateralized cerebral hemispheric abnormality, similar to one hypothesized by Venables (1980) to underlie cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Self-report measures of psychiatric vulnerability were completed by 881 college students. Experimental subjects ( n = 73) were those with high scores on one of four psychosis-proneness scales. Control subjects ( n = 33) scored within 0.5 SD of the mean on all scales. Subjects were tested using verbal and nonverbal visual search tasks designed to detect abnormalities in the spatial distribution of attention. When searching random arrays of nonverbal stimuli, 53% of the experimental subjects used an erratic search strategy similar to that typically observed in right-brain-damaged patients, compared with 23% of controls. The most deviant search patterns were shown by subjects who scored high on Physical Anhedonia and Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation. The results suggest that early development of schizophrenic disorder might be associated with dysfunction of right-hemispheric mechanisms of attentional control.

Cognitive slippage and depression in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Subjects who scored deviantly high on the combined Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation (Per-Mag) Scale and subjects who scored low on the scale were compared on two putative measures of cognitive slippage--a continued word association task and a task of referential communication. The Per-Mag subjects performed more deviantly than did the control subjects on both tasks, but those Per-Mag subjects who also scored above the mean on the General Behavior Inventory (GBI) depression subscale were most deviant. The Per-Mag Scale and the GBI are recommended for concurrent use in mass screening to identify a group of individuals who exhibit signs of cognitive slippage and who may, therefore, be at risk for the development of severe psychopathology.

Prediction of psychoticlike symptoms in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Prediction of psychoticlike symptoms in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Prediction of psychoticlike symptoms in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Prediction of psychoticlike symptoms in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Susceptibility to Type A backward pattern masking among hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Susceptibility to Type A backward pattern masking among hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Susceptibility to type A backward pattern masking among hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Susceptibility to type A backward pattern masking among hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Comparison of the 2-7-8 MMPI profile and the Perceptual Aberration—Magical Ideation Scale in identifying hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Comparison of the 2-7-8 MMPI profile and the Perceptual Aberration—Magical Ideation Scale in identifying hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Continued word association in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Continued word association in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Continued word association in hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Des etudiants a risque de psychose (scores deviants au PAS, au Per-Mag et au «Nonconformity Scale») sont compares avec les sujets-controle du point de vue de leurs resultats dans une epreuve d'association de mots. Des differences significatives sont trouvees, verifiant la validite du Per-Mag et du «Nonconformity Scale» dans le pronostic de la psychose

Communication effectiveness in psychosis-prone college students.

Communication effectiveness in psychosis-prone college students.