Quantifying the effects of practicing a semantic task according to subclinical schizotypy

Abstract

Abstract Greater adaptability of patients should go with easier psychosocial rehabilitation. Medications should thus also be chosen according to their impact on practice effects, as they measure adaptability. We are thus developing a pre-treatment test aimed, in fine, at assessing the impact of medications on these effects. Here, we report the practice effects observed across the two sessions of a semantic categorization task. Participants (n = 47) completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and performed this task twice, 1.5 hours apart. Practice was found to reduce reaction times in both low- and high-SPQ scorers. It was also found to decrease the amplitudes of the N400 event-related brain potentials elicited by semantically matching words in low SPQ scorers only, which showed the sensitivity of the task to schizotypy. Both RTs and N400 amplitudes were also found to have a good test-retest reliability across the two sessions. This task could thus be a valuable tool. On-going studies are assessing the impacts of fully deceptive placebos and of real antipsychotic medications on these effects of practice. This should, later, help psychiatrists to choose the best medication for the psychosocial rehabilitation of a patient.