A new study has found there are differences in visual perception among patients with paranoia.
The research, published in Communications Psychology,1 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 were confident in their answers but also had difficulty correctly identifying which dots were chasing, and which were being chased.
The authors said the study suggested “new links between seeing and thinking”
Those with paranoia had difficulties identifying sheep, while those with teleology found it difficult to identify wolves.
The authors said the study suggested “new links between seeing and thinking – with aberrant thought about the social world being connected to aberrant social perception, in ways not previously appreciated”.
Reference
- Castiello S, Ongchoco JDK, van Buren B. et al. Paranoid and teleological thinking give rise to distinct social hallucinations in vision. Commun Psychol 2024;(2)117. doi: 10.1038/s44271-024-00163-9.