Multisensory temporal processing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: implications for psychosis

Structuring sensory events in time is essential for interacting with the environment and producing adaptive behaviors. Over the past years, the microstructure of temporality received increasing attention, recognized as a fundamental factor influencing cognitive, affective, and social abilities, whose alteration can underlie the etiopathogeneses of some clinical symptoms in psychiatric disorders. The present research investigated multisensory temporal processing in individuals with schizophrenia (N = 21), bipolar disorder (N = 20) and healthy controls (N = 21) in order to explore a plausible link between multisensory alterations in the temporal order of events and the psychopathological dimensions underlying psychosis. We asked participants to temporally order audio-tactile, visual-tactile, and audio-visual stimuli, and we administered different psychopathological scales to explore depressive, manic and psychotic symptoms. Results demonstrated that both subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are less precise in temporal order judgment independently of the sensory modalities involved. Interestingly, reduced precision in temporal processing of patients is positively associated with the presence and severity of positive symptoms. Our findings support the hypothesis that low-level sensory alterations in temporal structure may contribute to the emergence of clinical symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behaviors.