Can you believe your eyes? Positive schizotypy is associated with increased susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer illusion

Visual illusions provide a unique opportunity to understand cognitive and perceptual alterations in schizophrenia-spectrum conditions. Schizophrenia patients often exhibit increased susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer illusion. Here, we investigate susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer visual illusion in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Schizophrenia research 2024-02, Vol.264, p.327-335
Main Authors: Lányi, Orsolya, Kéri, Szabolcs, Pálffy, Zsófia, Polner, Bertalan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bayes Theorem
Humans
Illusions
Psychosis-spectrum
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Schizotypy
Visual illusions
Visual perception
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Visual illusions provide a unique opportunity to understand cognitive and perceptual alterations in schizophrenia-spectrum conditions. Schizophrenia patients often exhibit increased susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer illusion. Here, we investigate susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer visual illusion in the general population with different levels of schizotypy. We assessed a population-based convenience sample (N = 263) on an online platform. In addition to basic demographics, participants completed the Müller-Lyer illusion, the Cardiff Anomalous Perceptions Scale (CAPS) to measure perceptual anomalies, and the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale – Brief (MSS-B) for schizotypic traits. To evaluate what predicts susceptibility to the illusion, we fitted a large set of multilevel logistic regression models and performed model averaging over the coefficients. We found support for increased illusion susceptibility among individuals with high positive schizotypy. However, we did not find a comparable effect for anomalous perceptions alone, or for negative or disorganized schizotypy. The increased Müller-Lyer effect in positive schizotypy might be specific to delusion-like beliefs and magical ideation. Further research is needed to clarify how a hierarchical Bayesian formulation of brain function (e.g. imbalances between bottom-up perceptual processing and substantial reliance on prior expectations) can account for the Müller-Lyer effect in schizophrenia-spectrum conditions.
ISSN:0920-9964
1573-2509
DOI:10.1016/j.schres.2023.12.023