Effect of a context of concrete and abstract words on hallucinatory content in individuals scoring high in schizotypy

The present study examined the occurrence and content of auditory hallucinatory experiences in 41 non-clinical participants scoring high or low on the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (brief version; OLIFE-B) measure of schizotypy. Participants listened to 10 1-min recordings of white noise, some of which contained embedded concrete or abstract words, and were asked to record the words that they had heard. High scorers on the unusual experiences (UE) scale of the OLIFE-B reported hearing more words, not actually present, relative to low scorers on that measure. In addition, high UE scorers showed a bias toward making hallucinatory reports of an abstract type over a concrete type. These results suggest a bias toward more auditory hallucinatory reports in high scorers in schizotypy, and particularly to those of an abstract type.