Presentation Information
[O1-02]Causality Judgments and temporal order in individuals with Schizophrenia: a new case of time re-ordering
*Anne Giersch1,2, Brice Martin4,3, Cristina Rusu1,2, Hager Guendouze1,2 (1. INSERM (France), 2. University of Strasbourg (France), 3. Hôpital du Vinatier, Lyon (France), 4. Centre Hospitalier Drôme Vivarais (France))
Keywords:
Temporal order judgement,causality,visual organization,schizophrenia
Temporal order (TO) helps to establish causal relationships between events, but can also be reversed to match perceived causality. We explored whether mechanisms related with conscious causality-inference can induce TO reversal, by studying the relation between temporal order and causality in both neurotypicals and patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Those patients have difficulties to order events in time and often emit aberrant causality judgements. We adapted our task from the Michotte paradigm to impose distinct causality judgements.
The tasks all entailed the same trials, but different judgements. On each trial a square moved towards a second static square, which was displayed at various delays before or after the stop of the moving square (-512 ms to +512 ms). In one block participants judged to which amount the static square stopped the moving square. In another block participants judged whether the moving square caused the appearance of the static square. In a last temporal order judgement task participants pressed to the side of the first event: the stop of the moving square or the onset of the static square.
Patients with SZ (28 vs. 21 controls) were impaired at judging temporal order. In addition, neurotypicals, but not individuals with SZ, were biased to answer that the onset of the static square was the first event. Follow-up experiments in 54 neurotypicals showed this (large) bias to occur only after decisions about the static square stopping the moving one. Additional data showed the persistence of the bias after one week.
This study confirms a difficulty in temporal order processing in SZ. Most importantly, neurotypicals, but not patients with SZ, adjusted temporal order perception to causality. Given (1) the robustness of this effect, (2) the task-imposed causality (rather than causality emerging naturally), and (3) known impairments in schizophrenia, we suggest that an active re-organization of information in vision leads to temporal re-ordering.
The tasks all entailed the same trials, but different judgements. On each trial a square moved towards a second static square, which was displayed at various delays before or after the stop of the moving square (-512 ms to +512 ms). In one block participants judged to which amount the static square stopped the moving square. In another block participants judged whether the moving square caused the appearance of the static square. In a last temporal order judgement task participants pressed to the side of the first event: the stop of the moving square or the onset of the static square.
Patients with SZ (28 vs. 21 controls) were impaired at judging temporal order. In addition, neurotypicals, but not individuals with SZ, were biased to answer that the onset of the static square was the first event. Follow-up experiments in 54 neurotypicals showed this (large) bias to occur only after decisions about the static square stopping the moving one. Additional data showed the persistence of the bias after one week.
This study confirms a difficulty in temporal order processing in SZ. Most importantly, neurotypicals, but not patients with SZ, adjusted temporal order perception to causality. Given (1) the robustness of this effect, (2) the task-imposed causality (rather than causality emerging naturally), and (3) known impairments in schizophrenia, we suggest that an active re-organization of information in vision leads to temporal re-ordering.