Neuropsychological evidence for dimensional schizotypy: Implications for creativity and psychopathology

Schizotypal personality is characterized by a variety of traits, such as magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, and anhedonia. Factor analytic studies have shown that these characteristics tend to cluster into at least two separate dimensions (positive and negative schizotypy). Schizotypy is associated with vulnerability to schizophrenia. However, it is also related to higher scores on measures of creativity and increased right-hemisphere brain activity. In a series of recent studies investigating the behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging correlates of positive and negative schizotypy, positive schizotypy was associated with better performance on measures of creativity, enhanced responsivity to threatening emotional stimuli, and more right-prefrontal cortical activity. These results support earlier psychological studies suggesting that positive schizotypy is related to patterns of cognitive and emotional function (e.g., divergent thinking, heightened emotion) that are common to both creativity and psychopathology.

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