An Integrated Neurophysiological Approach Toward the Early Detection of Psychiatric Disorders

Plain-language summary

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive decline, social withdrawal, and positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. Research suggests that SCZ and schizotypy exist along a continuum, with shared structural and behavioral abnormalities, the latter of which encompass the sensory and perceptual domain, often in the form of altered multisensory integration, as seen in tasks like the Sound-Induced Flash Illusion (SIFI). Individuals with schizotypal traits or SCZ show enlarged temporal binding windows (TBW) of cross-modal integration, affecting perceptual accuracy and multisensory judgments. However, whether these deficits stem from overactive top-down modulation or weakened bottom-up sensory precision remains unclear. The current study seeks to address these questions, by asking participants (healthy individuals screened as for their schizotypal traits, and patients suffering from SCZ) to complete a modified version of the SIFI, as well as an audiovisual temporal order judgment (TOJ) task. Cross-modal performance will be assessed via signal detection theory (SDT) metrics and psychometric modeling to estimate individual TBWs, thereby assaying audiovisual processing abilities along the schizotypal continuum

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