Cited by 262Schizophrenia research and treatmentNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMental Health and Psychiatry

Do patients with schizophrenia exhibit aberrant salience?

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Roiser, J. P., Stephan, K. E., den Ouden, H. E. M., Barnes, T. R. E., Friston, K. J., Joyce, E. M.·2009·Psychological Medicine

Abstract

Background: It has been suggested that some psychotic symptoms reflect ‘aberrant salience’, related to dysfunctional reward learning. To test this hypothesis we investigated whether patients with schizophrenia showed impaired learning of task-relevant stimulus–reinforcement associations in the presence of distracting task-irrelevant cues. Method: We tested 20 medicated patients with schizophrenia and 17 controls on a reaction time game, the Salience Attribution Test. In this game, participants made a speeded response to earn money in the presence of conditioned stimuli (CSs). Each CS comprised two visual dimensions, colour and form. Probability of reinforcement varied over one of these dimensions (task-relevant), but not the other (task-irrelevant). Measures of adaptive and aberrant motivational salience were calculated on the basis of latency and subjective reinforcement probability rating differences over the task-relevant and task-irrelevant dimensions respectively. Results: Participants rated reinforcement significantly more likely and responded significantly faster on high-probability-reinforced relative to low-probability-reinforced trials, representing adaptive motivational salience. Patients exhibited reduced adaptive salience relative to controls, but the two groups did not differ in terms of aberrant salience. Patients with delusions exhibited significantly greater aberrant salience than those without delusions, and aberrant salience also correlated with negative symptoms. In the controls, aberrant salience correlated significantly with ‘introvertive anhedonia’ schizotypy. Conclusions: These data support the hypothesis that aberrant salience is related to the presence of delusions in medicated patients with schizophrenia, but are also suggestive of a link with negative symptoms. The relationship between aberrant salience and psychotic symptoms warrants further investigation in unmedicated patients.

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  • On a neurophysiological level, a prediction error of this nature could cause an increase in phasic activity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, given their role in signaling salience and prediction errors.

    “However, on a neurophysiological level, a prediction error of this nature could cause an increase in the phasic activity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, given the role that these particular neurons are believed to play in signaling salience in general and prediction errors in particular.[62][63][64][65]”

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Authors
Roiser, J. P., Stephan, K. E., den Ouden, H. E. M., Barnes, T. R. E., Friston, K. J., & Joyce, E. M.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • Imperial College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Roiser, J. P.
Venue
Psychological Medicine
Published
2008-06-30
Volume
39
Issue
2
Pages
199-209
ISSN
  • 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8978
OpenAlex
W2100040139
Cited by
262
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 17
FWCI
9.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (064607 /z/01/z, 064607, 088130)
  • University College London
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
Keywords
schizophrenia, aberrant salience, motivational salience, delusions, negative symptoms, anhedonia, schizotypy, reward learning, reaction time, reinforcement probability
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Conditioning, Psychological, Dopamine, Feedback, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Learning, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Psychological Tests, Psychotic Disorders, Reaction Time, Reinforcement, Psychology, Reward, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology, Young Adult

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