The Relationship Between Schizotypal Personality Traits and Temporal Discounting: The Role of the Date/Delay Effect

Background And Hypothesis: Many patients with psychiatric disorders show increased temporal discounting (TD), ie, they discount future rewards more steeply than healthy controls. However, findings for schizophrenia and schizotypy, a personality constellation considered to be on the schizophrenia spectcrum, are less clear. Moreover, the role of future time representation in TD in the schizophrenia spectrum has not been examined. We hypothesized positive associations between schizotypal personality traits and TD and reduced TD when the timepoint of future rewards is represented in dates rather than delay units (the date/delay effect). Further, we explored associations between schizotypy and the magnitude of the date/delay effect.

Study Design: We conducted a large-scale, general-population online study (N = 1000) assessing TD with the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) and schizotypal traits with the Short Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (sO-LIFE). Time representation in the MCQ (dates vs delays) was manipulated within subject.

Study Results: Associations between TD and sO-LIFE subscales were not significant after Bonferroni correction (all r ≤ .06). The date/delay effect was successfully replicated (P < .001, gav = 0.22). Interestingly, higher values in the sO-LIFE Unusual Experiences subscale predicted the magnitude of the date/delay effect when controlling for influences of other sO-LIFE subscales, age, education, and drug use.

Conclusions: TD was not associated with schizotypy, but individuals with higher levels of positive schizotypy were more sensitive to manipulations of the representation of future timepoints. Future studies should focus on these processes as potential mechanisms in the development and treatment of cognitive-perceptual deficits in the schizophrenia spectrum.