Schizotypal traits and forearm motor control against self-other produced action in a bimanual unloading task

The present study investigated the relation between schizotypy and motor control against self- or other-produced action. We used an unloading task to focus on the timing component of anticipatory motor control. In the task, a weight was removed from a participants' hand by the participants themselves or by an experimenter (voluntary versus imposed unloading). Postural disturbance at the removal timing was measured as an index of predictive function in motor control. We hypothesized that the postural disturbance in the voluntary unloading would be positively related to schizotypal traits; however, the results did not support this theory. The results showed almost zero correlation between the schizotypy scores and the postural disturbance in the voluntary unloading condition. In contrast, the schizotypy scores positively correlated with the postural disturbance in the imposed unloading condition. These findings were replicated across two participant groups and two schizotypy scales. Further analyses on subscales of the schizotypy questionnaire found moderate levels of positive correlation between each subscale for Cognitive-Perceptual and Disorganization factors and the disturbance. Accordingly, the present study did not support the idea that non-pathological individuals with high schizotypal traits have deficits in prediction of self-produced actions, at least for a temporal domain. Instead, the results suggested that individuals with high schizotypal traits, particularly for the positive and disorganization symptoms, are not good at responding to others-produced actions. The schizophrenic symptoms were discussed in terms of the failure in the processes executed after calculating prediction of sensory consequences and dysfunction in internal models for “other people”.