Early intervention in psychiatry
November 1, 2024
Massimo Ballerini, Eleonora Rossi, Emanuele Cassioli et al.
4 citations
People with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa report anomalous self-experiences (ASEs) at levels comparable to those seen in schizophrenia. In a study of 90 individuals with anorexia, 41 with bulimia, and 92 general-population controls, ASEs were strongly correlated with feeling extraneous from one's own body, body uneasiness, and eating-disorder symptoms. Statistical modeling showed that ASEs influence eating-disorder symptoms indirectly, through disturbances in embodiment, identity, and body image. The findings suggest that anomalous interoceptive processes may initiate a maladaptive cascade that impairs embodiment and selfhood in feeding and eating disorders, and that assessing ASEs could help identify an early shared vulnerability across severe disorders involving altered embodiment.
Psychopathology
January 1, 2022
Andrea Patti, Gabriele Santarelli, Giulio D'Anna et al.
3 citations
Aberrant salience, an anomalous way of experiencing the world linked to psychosis proneness, was examined in 106 postgraduate university students. Cannabis users reported higher aberrant salience scores than nonusers. Among all participants, aberrant salience was associated with positive psychotic-like symptoms, personality traits (low self-directedness and high self-transcendence), and cannabis use. However, the relative importance of these factors differed: personality traits were more prominent among nonusers, while positive psychotic-like experiences played a larger role among cannabis users. The findings suggest that pre-reflexive anomalous experiences are intertwined with personality, subclinical symptoms, and cannabis use.
The Journal of Creative Behavior
June 17, 2024
Andrea Patti, Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola, Davide Benedetti et al.
2 citations
Artists report higher levels of aberrant salience—the tendency to attribute unusual significance to stimuli—than both healthy controls and patients with psychosis. In a study of 196 healthy controls, 50 artists from the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, and 84 outpatients diagnosed with psychosis, artists scored significantly higher on the Aberrant Salience Inventory. Group membership was the only factor influencing scores; age, gender, education, and antipsychotic treatment did not. The authors suggest that aberrant salience, rather than being solely a marker of pathology, may enhance creative faculties and unique perceptual experiences, and that education might help channel these mechanisms through art.
Early Intervention in Psychiatry
December 8, 2023
Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola, Andrea Patti, Davide Benedetti et al.
2 citations
Aberrant salience (AS) and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are linked, and anxiety is common in psychosis-prone individuals and patients. In a study of 163 healthy controls and 44 psychotic patients, AS correlated with more frequent positive PLEs and higher anxiety in both groups. However, the frequency of positive PLEs mediated the relationship between AS and anxiety only among controls, not patients. The authors suggest that in patients, a progressive loss of novelty and insight may impair emotional reactivity to PLEs and the ability to recognize bodily phenomena as anxiety, explaining the difference.
European Journal of Neuroscience
November 1, 2025
Paolo La‐torraca‐vittori, Livio Tarchi, Elisa Arrigo et al.
1 citation
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) reduces local brain activity and connectivity in sensory and association regions, with effects linked to specific neurotransmitter receptors. In 15 healthy adults, fMRI scans under LSD versus placebo showed decreased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in somatosensory, visual, default mode, and frontoparietal networks, and decreased regional homogeneity (ReHo) in sensory and subcortical areas. Test-retest reliability was high for ALFF and moderate for ReHo. LSD-induced changes correlated negatively with densities of D2 and 5-HT1A receptors, suggesting the drug engages neurochemical processes beyond its primary 5-HT2A target. These preliminary results indicate complex, dynamic mechanisms underlying LSD's neural effects.
Research Square
November 20, 2023
Ottone Baccaredda Boy, Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola, Andrea Patti et al.
Adolescents reported more severe psychotic symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale than adults, while no significant difference was found in cannabis exposure or Aberrant Salience Inventory scores. A hierarchical pattern emerged among adult subgroups, with psychotic patients scoring higher than other psychiatric and neurological patients. The findings suggest that aberrant salience, and to a lesser degree cannabis use, may contribute to psychotic symptom severity, particularly during more at-risk developmental phases. The role of cannabis in this relationship remains unclear.