Body ownership across schizotypy dimensions: A rubber hand illusion experiment

Multidimensional schizotypy and embodied emotions

“…Importantly, some aspects of emotional embodiment (i.e., the diffusion and size of bodily sensations) did not systematically vary as a function of schizotypy. These novel results add to the recent body of literature documenting both intact (e.g., interoception; Torregrossa et al, 2022 ) and mildly disrupted (e.g., body ownership; Torregrossa and Park, 2022 ) aspects of the bodily self experience in relation to multidimensional schizotypy. More work is needed to understand the implications of these results in terms of emotional and social functioning as well as the possible role of emotional embodiment in psychosis-risk.…”

“…It is therefore possible that the increased intensity of embodied emotions experienced by individuals with high negative schizotypy facilitates emotion identification. In line with this hypothesis, a recent study documented a potential protective effect of negative schizotypy on disturbances of body ownership ( Torregrossa and Park, 2022 ). However, our results also indicated that individuals with elevated schizotypy experience more incongruent (e.g., activation in the context of a low arousal emotion, or deactivation in the context if a high arousal emotion) and blurred (i.e., activation and deactivation being experienced simultaneously in a given bodily region) bodily sensations of emotions, which could in turn lead to incorrect emotion identification.…”

“…Interestingly, contemporary research exploring different aspects of the bodily self in relation to schizotypy have shown varied results. For instance, while no link was found between interoceptive functioning and schizotypy ( Torregrossa et al, 2022 ), schizotypy was linked to disruptions in body ownership ( Thakkar et al, 2011 ; Germine et al, 2013 ; Torregrossa and Park, 2022 ) and agency deficits ( Asai and Tanno, 2007 , 2008 ; Moore et al, 2020 ). To our knowledge, emotional embodiment has never been studied in relation to schizotypy.…”

Associations between Schizotypal Facets and Symptoms of Disordered Eating in Women

“…Here, it was reported across two studies that several facets of schizotypy—particularly ideas of reference, odd beliefs/magical thinking, and suspiciousness—were significantly and positively associated with disordered eating attitudes in university students from the United States, although effects sizes were weak-to-moderate. This suggests that the positive or psychotic-like facets of schizotypy may be associated with greater disordered eating attitudes, which would be consistent with the finding that positive schizotypy is associated with a weakened sense of body ownership [ 37 ]. However, issues in interpreting these findings relate to the small sample sizes in the studies by Bremser and Gallup [ 39 ] ( N = 42 and 37, respectively), the sole focus on correlational analyses (i.e., no follow-up analyses were conducted), and the lack of consideration of possible gendered effects (i.e., data were pooled across women and men for analyses).…”

“…Similarly, Meehl [ 34 ] described a range of schizotypal signs and symptoms, including body image aberrations, a suggestion that has received support more recently in the finding that high schizotypal traits are associated with sense of detachment from one’s lived body and that abnormal bodily experiences may be a marker of schizophrenia proneness [ 35 ]. Other studies have also suggested that body ownership (i.e., a component of the bodily self) as measured using the Rubber Hand Illusion is significantly associated with schizotypy, indicating that body image disturbances may be central to prodromal schizophrenia [ 36 , 37 ].…”