Neural correlates of self-advantage effect in mental time travel in individuals with high levels of schizotypal traits: A resting-state functional connectivity study.

AIM: Mental time travel (MTT) is a cognitive capacity to mentally re-experience past events and anticipate future possibilities. Self-related MTT events have stronger vividness and sense of experience than events related to others, i.e., the "self-advantage effect". This effect is diminished in individuals with high schizotypal traits (HST) who are at risk for schizophrenia. However, the neural correlates of this effect remain unclear. The present study aimed to examine this issue through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).

METHODS: Thirty-nine individuals with HST and 38 individuals with low schizotypal traits (LST) were recruited. They completed the self/other-related MTT task and underwent rs-fMRI scanning.

RESULTS: In HST, the "self-advantage effect" on specificity was positively correlated with functional connectivity (FC) between the right precuneus and bilateral frontal pole, left temporal pole, and the posterior cingulate cortex, whereas this association was negative in individuals with LST. Additionally, the "self-advantage effect" on emotional intensity was negatively associated with FC between the left precuneus and middle cingulate cortex in HST, but positively associated in LST.

CONCLUSIONS: People with HST have altered association patterns between the "self-advantage effect" in MTT and resting-state FC. The "self-advantage effect" in MTT may be a potential target for intervention in the schizophrenia spectrum.