The Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) is a tool for measuring a psychological process linked to the onset of psychosis, where ordinary experiences become unusually noticeable or significant. A Spanish version of the ASI was tested in 6178 people, including 4523 adolescents, 1292 adults from the general population, and 363 patients with a mental health condition. The inventory worked similarly for men and women, and for both clinical and nonclinical groups. Scores tended to stabilize around age 19, suggesting a developmental change in motivation-related responses. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, or bipolar disorder had the highest average scores, supporting the inventory's value for evaluating abnormal motivation in schizophrenia.
Ideas of reference (IR) are common in psychotic disorders, and their frequency and associated preoccupation relate to the psychotic dimension. Aberrant salience (AS) is considered an early indicator of psychosis. This study tested whether AS and disorganized symptoms mediate the link between IR and the psychotic dimension. In 330 participants (116 university students, 214 patients; 62.4% women, ages 18–79), a partial mediation model showed that AS and the disorganized dimension jointly mediated the relationship between IR and the psychotic dimension, while preoccupation about IR no longer played a role. Age significantly influenced this relationship. The model explained 54.16% of the variance in the psychotic dimension. Findings suggest that unusual thought content may predict proneness to psychosis, with implications for early detection and prevention.