Diametric effects of autism tendencies and psychosis proneness on attention control irrespective of task demands

Ahmad Abu-Akel, Ian Apperly, Mayra Muller Spaniol, Joy Geng, Carmel Mevorach

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
184 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Our capacity to attend a target while ignoring irrelevant distraction impacts our ability to successfully interact with our environment. Previous reports have sometimes identified excessive distractor interference in both autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders and in neurotypical individuals with high subclinical expressions of these conditions. Independent of task, we show that
the direction of the effect of autism or psychosis traits on the suppression or rejection of a nontarget item is diametrical. In Study 1, in which the presence of a salient non-target item hindered performance, higher autism traits were associated with better performance, while higher psychosis traits were associated with worse performance. In Study 2, in which the presence of a salient nontarget item facilitated performance, a complete reversal of effects was observed. Future clinical interventions may be informed by the context-specific advantages we observed for the autism and psychosis spectra, and by the need to consider the diametric effects they yield.
Original languageEnglish
Article number8478
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 May 2018

Keywords

  • Psychology
  • Risk factors

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