Specific aspects of aberrant salience: comparison between patients with or without psychosis and healthy participants

Abstract

Aberrant salience is likely to be a key mechanism in the development of psychosis. This concept bridges the perceptual and the cognitive levels but little is known about their respective roles in the emergence of psychosis. It has also been suggested that not all aspects of aberrant salience are specific to psychosis. The aim of this study was to compare patients with psychosis, patients with other psychiatric diagnoses and healthy, non-clinical participants on several psychological dimensions related to aberrant salience.A total of 432 French-speaking individuals participated in the study. Overall, 282 participants from the general population and 150 persons hospitalised in psychiatric institutions in Switzerland were assessed using the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS), the Internal and External Encoding Style Questionnaire (ESQ), the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) and the Magical Ideation Scale (MIS).Three scores (PAS, ESQ and ASI-Sharpening of Senses) were able to discriminate between psychiatric patients (both those with psychosis and those with other psychiatric diagnosis) and the general population whereas three other scores (HSPS, MIS and ASI-Heightened Cognition) discriminated patients with psychosis from both patients with other psychiatric diagnose and non-clinical participants.The results suggest that low-level processes (perception) were not specific to psychosis, but rather to psychiatric disorders more generally. In contrast, aspects related to cognition, sensitivity, and ideation seems to be specific to psychosis. Future studies should examine whether aspects of cognition, sensitivity, and ideation play a more prominent role in the development of psychosis.