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Aberrant pauses are characteristic of schizophrenia and are robustly associated with its negative symptoms. Here, we found that pause behavior was associated with negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, and with measures of syntactic complexity—phrase length and usage of determiners that introduce clauses—that we previously showed in this same CHR cohort to help comprise a classifier that predicted psychosis. These findings suggest a common impairment in discourse planning and verbal self-monitoring that affects both speech and language, and which is detected in clinical ratings of negative symptoms.

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Objective: Qualitative research can shed light on the subjective experiences of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, complement quantitative research, broaden our understanding of experiencing CHR, and inform intervention development. The aim of this study was to explore life experiences of individuals at CHR through qualitative research. Method: Participants were 37 individuals at CHR (20 male, 17 female) aged 16-34 (M age = 23.32 ± 5.26), and 16 healthy controls (HCs; 7 male, 9 female) aged

Background. Abnormalities in the semantic and syntactic organization of speech have been reported in individuals at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis. The current study seeks to examine whether such abnormalities are associated with changes in brain structure and functional connectivity in CHR individuals. Methods. Automated natural language processing analysis was applied to speech samples obtained from 46 CHR and 22 healthy individuals. Brain structural and resting-state functional imaging data were also acquired from all participants. Sparse canonical correlation analysis (sCCA) was used to ascertain patterns of covariation between linguistic features, clinical symptoms, and measures of brain morphometry and functional connectivity related to the language network. Results. In CHR individuals, we found a significant mode of covariation between linguistic and clinical features (r = 0.73; p = 0.003), with negative symptoms and bizarre thinking covarying mostly with measures of syntactic complexity. In the entire sample, separate sCCAs identified a single mode of covariation linking linguistic features with brain morphometry (r = 0.65; p = 0.05) and resting-state network connectivity (r = 0.63; p = 0.01). In both models, semantic and syntactic features covaried with brain structural and functional connectivity measures of the language network. However, the contribution of diagnosis to both models was negligible. Conclusions. Syntactic complexity appeared sensitive to prodromal symptoms in CHR individuals while the patterns of brain-language covariation seemed preserved. Further studies in larger samples are required to establish the reproducibility of these findings.

Objectives:The goal of the current study was to refine and validate a revision of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), with the goal of retaining its useful features and mitigating those features that have been identified to be problematic.Methods: A 30-item pilot version of the Balanced Inventory of Mindfulness-related Skills (BIMS) was developed by implementing the structured alternative item format (presenting both positive and negative aspects of each item) and revising the wording of items. Herein, we collected data from a convenience sample of n=1,014 individuals, reduced to n=757 after data cleaning. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) on randomly separated subsets of the sample and explored response patterns and correlations with relevant measures (including a short-form of the FFMQ).Results: Parallel analysis and EFA indicated a five-factor, correlated structure across a final 27 items (omitting 3 items due to poor fit), confirmed by CFA. A full sample CFA using an asymptotically distribution free fit function indicated excellent model fit (CFI/TLI > 0.99, RMSEA < 0.05, SRMR < 0.05). The BIMS scales exhibited strong correlations with the FFMQ subscales and related scales. The scale did not, however, reduce correlations with social desirability, which has been shown to be associated with method effects. Conclusions:The BIMS represents a psychometrically sound revision of the FFMQ that retains the five-factor structure of the original scale while eliminating method effects. It is strongly correlated with the original scale and exhibits comparable correlations with attentional control, emotion regulation, and personality characteristics. Critically, the BIMS represents a measure of mindfulness-related skills, shifting the focus to clinically relevant constructs that may interact but do not necessarily sum to a unitary trait.