Page 67 - JCBP-2-1

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Exteroceptive/interoceptive processing

The metastable integration of various sensory These limitations, along with the promising findings
modalities over time indeed contributes to the essential observed in the present work, underscore the need for
stability required for generating our implicit sense of self- future longitudinal studies with larger samples. In addition,
continuity . This stability is grasped through the absence the incorporation of objective measures to complement
[48]
of significant changes in perceptual indexes between PSY- the existing questionnaires for sensory processing is
T1 and PSY-T2. Although sensory indexes in psychosis warranted.
displayed greater stability than symptoms, it was lower
than those observed in the general population and other 5. Conclusion
pervasive conditions, including autism . Conversely, The majority of perceptual indexes were stable in patients
[49]
phasic, unpredictable changes in sensory or multisensory with psychosis, comparable to the scores observed in
pathways may provide inconsistent references to higher- controls. In contrast, indexes assessing passive/active
order mental processes, contributing to the generation sensory attention revealed increased sensibility toward
of psychotic symptoms. Self-assessed interoceptive/ interoceptive stimuli and reduced sensibility toward
exteroceptive scores may thus evaluate a transient exteroceptive stimuli in patients during the post-acute
state of disrupted perceptual processing rather than a phase. The outcomes of this study represent an initial step
trait of vulnerability to psychosis. A better understanding toward clinically evaluating the dynamic interplay among
of the interplay between exteroception, interoception, interoception, exteroception, and psychotic disorders.
and psychosis could help unravel the etiopathological The heterogeneous results from the literature regarding
mechanisms underlying perceptual alterations in this perceptual profiles should be contextualized by considering
condition. On the one hand, the perceptual dimension
could differentiate clinical subtypes of psychosis. On that fluctuations in PSY patients can be significant when
the other hand, the temporal fluctuations of perceptual compared to the general population.
scores suggest their potential use in measuring treatment Acknowledgments
outcomes or, more interestingly, in identifying treatments
that are potentially specific for this dimension. None.
4.4. Limitations Funding

Our study has some limitations to acknowledge. First None.
of all, the limited sample size of the PSY patients allows
us to elaborate only on preliminary, although novel, Conflict of interest
considerations. Furthermore, the HC group has a The authors declare no conflict of interest.
larger sample size compared to PSY patients, partially
explaining why the PSY-T1/PSY-T2 differences are not Author contributions
statistically significant, although they exhibit a similar Conceptualization: Stefano Damiani
absolute magnitude to the PSY-T1/HC differences. As an Formal analysis: Cecilia Maria Esposito
additional limitation, the self-administered questionnaires
explore the behavioral aspects of perceptual profiles. The Investigation: Marie Emilie Giovannelli, Serena Chiara
administration of these questionnaires becomes notably Civardi, Andrea Silva, Valentina Grecuzzo, Irma
challenging during the acute psychotic phase when Bergamaschini, Francesco Sommi, Silvia Gazzoli,
hallucinations and delusions reach maximum severity, and Emma Laura Facchinetti
more pronounced perceptual alterations may be observed. Methodology: Stefano Damiani
The administration of self-questionnaires to psychotic Supervision: Pierluigi Politi, Paolo Fusar-Poli
participants deserves particular attention. Although it is Writing – original draft: Marie Emilie Giovannelli, Serena
impossible to explore the individual perceptive experience Chiara Civardi
through objective tests, the psychopathological conditions Writing – review & editing: Stefano Damiani, Cecilia Maria
of the participants can obviously affect their ability to Esposito
respond to the self-administered questionnaires. This Ethics approval and consent to participate
may be the case with MAIA scores in our sample, where
higher values are considered a positive index in the general The research was approved by the local ethical committee
population but were even more increased in PSY patients of the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Pavia, Italy (Approval
compared to HC. These differences may be due to a reduced no: 20210003663). All participants have signed the
insight in patients, as proposed by Koreki et al. [29] informed consent form.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.1764