New research explores differences in vision among those with paranoia

A new study published in Communications Psychology has explored differences in visual perception among those with paranoia.

The research, which was led by Yale University, examined the ability of study participants to track ‘wolf’ dots chasing ‘sheep’ dots across a screen.

They found that participants with high levels of paranoia and teleology (ascribing excessive meaning and purpose to events) were more likely to claim that one dot was chasing another when it was not.

Both groups of individuals expressed high levels of confidence in their answers.

Both those with paranoia and those with teleology struggled to correctly identify which dots were chasing other dots, and which dots were being chased. Those with paranoia had difficulties identifying sheep, while those with teleology were impaired identifying wolves.

The researchers highlighted that a simple visual test could be developed to help identify which individuals may benefit from worry interventions for paranoia.

Lead author, Santiago Castiello, of Yale University, highlighted that very few people with congenital blindness develop schizophrenia.

“Finding these social hallucinations in vision makes me wonder if schizophrenia is something that develops through errors in how people sample the visual world,” he said.

He shared that the research could be useful in developing risk assessments.

“One thing we’re thinking about now is whether we can find eye tests that predict someone’s risk for psychosis,” Corlett said.

“Maybe there is some very quick perceptual task that can identify when someone might need to talk to a clinician,” he added.

Alongside the Yale University researchers, scientists from the University of British Columbia and The New School of Social Research contributed to the study.