Patterns of cognitive asymmetry and syndromes of schizotypal personality

The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, modeled on the nine components of DSM-III-R schizotypy, was administered to 122 medical students along with the Thayer Activation-Deactivation Adjective Checklist and the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for words and faces. Close affinities were found between a three-factor schizotypal personality structure and a three-syndrome model of schizophrenia. Different patterns of cognitive asymmetry (word-face discrepancy scores) were related to Active and Withdrawn syndromes as in schizophrenia, and were related to high activation and general deactivation differences as predicted. A prospective single case study showed that a face-word discrepancy before a first episode of schizophrenia accurately predicted a Withdrawn presenting syndrome. The consistency between syndromes of schizophrenia and schizotypal personality in a normal population suggests possible etiological links between the two, and it supports a dimensional view of psychosis and subclinical predispositions.