Context binding and hallucination predisposition: Evidence of intact intentional and automatic integration of external features

Difficulties binding together information in memory have often been reported in individuals with schizophrenia, and have been linked with auditory hallucinations and the predisposition to hallucinate in particular. However, some inconsistencies remain. For example, we previously examined binding of two external sources (voice and location) in hallucination-prone individuals and found no evidence of a binding deficit using a working memory task that involved automatic binding. Consequently, the current study examined both automatic and intentional binding. The Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale-Revised (LSHS-R) was administered to 559 undergraduates from which high (25) and low (25) scorers were drawn. The binding tasks assessed either automatic or intentional binding of voice and location features. The results showed no significant differences between high and low hallucination-prone individuals in binding these two external sources of information, regardless of the type of binding (automatic or intentional) assessed. Furthermore, hallucination-prone individuals demonstrated no difficulties recognising individual features of voice identity or location. These findings suggest that some memory deficits may emerge only as psychosis fully develops.