Latent inhibition and context change in psychometrically defined schizotypy Elias Tsakanikos a, * , Phil Reed b a Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, Estia Centre, 66 Snowfields, London SE1 3SS, UK b Department of Psychology, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK Received 13 January 2003; received in revised form 24 June 2003; accepted 25 July 2003 Abstract The disruption of latent inhibition within the schizophrenia spectrum has often been interpreted either as a result of increased attentional distractibility (attentional account) or as a result of deficient interference of past associations (associative account). The aim of the present investigation was to test competing pre- dictions, as derived from the above theoretical accounts. In a visual search paradigm of latent inhibition, accuracy was examined as a function of prior experience with the target, and psychometrically defined schizotypy. In Experiment 1 (N ¼ 60), no context change was introduced. In accord with past evidence, latent inhibition was found to be intact in low-, but disrupted in high-schizotypy scorers, a result predicted both by attentional and associative accounts. In Experiment 2 (N ¼ 60), a context change was introduced. As predicted by past evidence, latent inhibition was disrupted in low-schizotypy scorers. However, latent inhibition was found to be intact in high-schizotypy scorers, a finding accommodated by attentional, but not associative accounts. Theoretical implications and alternative interpretations are also considered. Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Associative learning; Cognitive processes; Conditioning; Distractibility; Latent inhibition; Psychotic disorders; Pre-exposure; Schizotypy 1. Introduction Non-reinforced, pre-exposure to a stimulus CS PE results in retardation of subsequent condi- tioning to that stimulus, as compared to a non-pre-exposed stimulus CS NPE . This phenomenon (CS PE ) US < CS NPE ) US) is known as the stimulus pre-exposure effect, or latent inhibition * Corresponding author. E-mail address: e.tsakanikos@iop.kcl.ac.uk (E. Tsakanikos). 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2003.07.004 Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 1827–1839 www.elsevier.com/locate/paid