Theory of mind, neurocognition, and functional status in schizotypy

The present study is the first to concurrently examine social cognition, neurocognition, and social functioning in psychometric schizotypes. Screening of 2108 undergraduates with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire–Brief (SPQ-B) identified 52 persons high in schizotypy and 40 persons low in schizotypy. All participants were administered a test battery designed to assess two elements of neurocognition, verbal secondary memory (California Verbal Learning Test) and executive functioning (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), two elements of social cognition, emotion perception (The Awareness of Social Inference Test—Part 1) and theory of mind (The Awareness of Social Inference Test—Parts 2 and 3), and social functioning (Social Adjustment Scale–Self Report). Although the persons with high schizotypy were impaired in social functioning relative to the persons with low schizotypy, they were not impaired in theory of mind, emotion perception, verbal secondary memory, or executive functioning. Theory of mind and verbal secondary memory were correlated in persons with high schizotypy. The present findings suggest that psychometric schizotypes are not impaired in the domains of social cognition and neurocognition examined.