Auditory and Visual Illusions as Predictors of Positive Thought Disorder in an Undergraduate Sample

Abstract

Although there is a wealth of research surrounding schizophrenia and its symptoms, what is still unknown is how these individual symptoms arise, and in what way they relate to one another. One way of investigating these questions is by studying sub-clinical traits of schizophrenia, such as hallucination-like experiences (or illusions). The present study used objective measures of auditory and visual illusion experience to understand in what way these sub-clinical traits relate to positive thought disorder. It was hypothesised that auditory illusions are significantly related to positive thought disorder, whereas visual illusions are not. Scores on a snowy pictures task and a psychobabble task were used to investigate their relationships with positive thought disorder scores in an undergraduate sample (n = 72). Results from regression analyses supported the hypothesis, showing that the number of auditory illusions experienced predicted scores of positive thought disorder and that the number of visual illusions do not. In conclusion, findings from the present study suggest that auditory and visual illusions have different relationships with positive thought disorder, and these findings can form the foundation for future structural imaging studies of non- clinical populations, as well as for the early identification of schizophrenia risk.