Multisensory integration, the process by which sensory information from different sensory modalities are bound together, is hypothesized to contribute to perceptual symptomatology in schizophrenia, including hallucinations and aberrant speech perception. Differences in multisensory integration and temporal processing, an important component of multisensory integration, have been consistently found among individuals with schizophrenia. Evidence is emerging that these differences extend across the schizophrenia spectrum, including individuals in the general population with higher levels of schizotypal traits. In the current study, we measured (1) multisensory integration using an audiovisual speech-in-noise task, and the McGurk task. Using the speech-in-noise task, we assessed (2) susceptibility to distracting auditory speech to test the hypothesis that increased perception of distracting speech that is subsequently bound with mismatching visual speech contributes to hallucination-like experiences. As a measure of (3) temporal processing, we used the ternary synchrony judgment task. We measured schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), hypothesizing that higher levels of schizotypal traits, specifically Unusual Perceptual Experiences and Odd Speech subscales, would be associated with (1) decreased multisensory integration, (2) increased susceptibility to distracting auditory speech, and (3) less precise temporal processing. Surprisingly, neither subscales were associated with any of the measures. These results suggest that these perceptual differences may not be present across the schizophrenia spectrum.
Audiovisual training is better than auditory-only training for auditory-only speech-in-noise identification
