Screen for psychotic disorders with a vision test?

What if a simple visual perception test could detect complex mental disorders? Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine in the United States have conducted a unique study on how individuals perceive a social interaction simulated using moving dots. Their work, published in the journal Communications Psychologyhighlight the link between visual perception, paranoid thinking and schizophrenia.

Deciphering visual perception errors

Study participants were asked to observe dots moving on a screen and determine whether one of the dots was chasing another. Those with paranoid tendencies or teleological thinking (which attributes excessive intent to events) more frequently identified nonexistent pursuit, often with confidence. These thought patterns, although different, share one thing in common: the misattribution of intentions.

According to the scientists, these results are relevant because they show that complex behaviors, usually perceived as higher order, can be detected at a basic level in the brain, within vision.

When participants were asked to identify which point pursued the other, the differences between paranoia and teleology became evident. Those with a high tendency toward paranoia had difficulty determining which point was being pursued, while teleological thinkers struggled to identify the point being pursued. These discrepancies highlight that these thought patterns are distinct, with potential implications for diagnosis and treatment.

A new avenue for understanding schizophrenia

Researchers suggest that these visual perception errors could be linked to symptoms of psychosis. Indeed, hallucinations associated with schizophrenia are often centered on social interactions. “Very few people with congenital blindness develop schizophrenia, suggesting that errors in visual sampling may play a role.”explain the researchers in a press release.

Although no clinical application is immediately available, this work opens the way to eye tests to assess the risk of psychosis. Simple visual perception tasks could thus indicate the need for clinical follow-up.