Psychologists warned that people who can identify the shape of a baby in an optical illusion may need to see a therapist.
Seeing a child in the ink blot suggests those individuals may be prone to hallucinations and psychosis.
That is because they likely have a more predictive brain that fills in the missing images of the child’s head and body.
Experts say that the process is useful – it makes us efficient and adept at creating a coherent picture of an ambiguous and complex world – but it can also make some individuals see things that aren’t actually there.
This black and white image may looks like a random pattern of blotches, but scroll down and look at the photo below and stare at this one again. It’s likely you will start to make sense of it and see a similar image of a baby. It’s this ability that scientists believe could help explain why some people are prone to hallucinations
Psychosis is defined as a loss of grip on reality. It’s a condition marked by delusional thinking, hallucinations – both auditory and visual – and irrational beliefs.
The ink blot was developed by psychologists in the UK to explore how the brain’s processing of visual information differs between people with early psychosis, those prone to psychosis, and healthy people.
The scientists’ report included two separate studies.
The first examined whether psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations and delusions, result from an overreliance on prior knowledge when processing unclear sensory signals.
And the second looked at healthy individuals who displayed traits linked to schizotypy, which is a personality trait that can predict psychosis and other mental illnesses.
While schizotypy was originally thought to indicate a risk for schizophrenia, it is now understood as a broader indicator of psychosis proneness.
The initial report involved 34 people, including 16 healthy volunteers and 18 considered to be at risk of psychosis. The two were matched by age and IQ.
The first study involved 34 people, including 16 healthy volunteers and 18 considered to be at risk of psychosis. The two were matched by age and IQ.
In the second study, the researchers examined 40 healthy people recruited from the surrounding community.
Both groups viewed 500 black-and-white two-tone images that were selected because of their difficulty of interpretation without prior knowledge of what they might be.
Once the clear color image was shown, researchers looked at how quickly each person could recognize the shape in the black-and-white photo.
The study found that individuals in the clinical group, those with early psychotic experiences, improved their recognition of shapes after viewing template images compared to healthy controls.
Specifically, the clinical group showed an average performance increase of a measure of 0.35 after viewing the templates, while the control group improved by a measure of 0.14.
Scientists think hallucinations may be caused by a natural process used by the brain to make sense of the world and that most of us experience them at one point or another. An image of a baby is shown, which the blotchy black and white image above. The pair are similar to those used in the study
This suggests that individuals in the clinical group were better at using prior knowledge to recognize the shapes, even though both groups improved overall.
Researchers were able to understand how information processing changes as early symptoms of psychosis emerge.
The studies indicate that both early psychosis and psychosis proneness are associated with a change in visual processing, where individuals tend to rely more on their prior knowledge rather than new sensory information.
The results suggested that people with a condition that already puts them at risk of developing hallucinations and delusions experience a shift in processing.
That reveals a distinct cognitive trait that may contribute to the development of psychotic symptoms.
The researchers said: ‘Given that these alterations in information processing are evident early on in psychosis and even in association with subtle perceptual changes indicating psychosis proneness, they may be important factors contributing to the emergence of severe mental illnesses.’
Their report appeared in the journal PNAS.
They identified unmedicated people experiencing early psychotic symptoms who do not meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis through a specialized mental health service.
Their observations indicated that, in cases of early psychosis, there is a shift in how information is processed, prioritizing prior knowledge rather than relying on new sensory input.
To navigate our surroundings effectively, we need precise details about object size, location, and distance. But we don’t have direct access to this information; instead, we depend on sensory input, which can be hard to discern.
The human visual system compensates by integrating sensory data with our previous knowledge to form a more accurate understanding of the world.
This is known as top-down processing, where existing knowledge shapes how we interpret incoming sensory information.
For example, if you see ‘Th_ cat sat on the mat,’ your brain recognizes the context and automatically fills in the missing letter to read ‘The cat sat on the mat,’ even though the sensory input – the text – is incomplete.
The brain uses its knowledge of language and sentence structure to interpret unclear information.
One of the study’s researchers, Dr. Christoph Teufel from the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, said: ‘Vision is a constructive process – in other words, our brain makes up the world that we “see.”
‘It fills in the blanks, ignoring the things that don’t quite fit, and presents to us an image of the world that has been edited and made to fit with what we expect.’
