Behavioral and electrophysiological approaches to understanding language dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders: insights from the study of schizophrenia

Łojek

Psychology of Language and Communication

2017

The study assessed the quantity and quality of errors made by schizophrenia patients in understanding and interpretation of the same metaphors, to evaluate metaphor understanding and explanation depending on the type of presentation material, and to analyze the correlation of illness symptoms with metaphor comprehension and explanation. Two groups of participants were examined: a schizophrenia sample (40 participants) and a control group (39 participants). Metaphor processing was assessed by the subtests of the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB-PL). The patients were also evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Schizophrenia patients scored significantly lower in explanation of metaphors, making more incorrect literal and abstract mistakes or providing no answer more frequently. No differences were observed in understanding metaphors; no correlation between symptoms and metaphor processing was obtained. In both groups, picture metaphors were easier to comprehend and written metaphors were easier to comprehend than to explain.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphor Processing in Schizophrenia Patients: A Study of Comprehension and Explanation of Metaphors

Łojek

Psychology of Language and Communication

2017

“…There is some inconsistency in results of semantic priming experiments in patients with SZ. While some behavioral (Manschreck et al, 1988; Spitzer et al, 1994; Moritz et al, 2001b) and electrophysiological studies (Kreher et al, 2008) have shown an exaggerated semantic priming effect in patients with SZ (Maher et al, 2005; Kuperberg et al, 2007), other studies reveal normal or reduced priming (Kuperberg et al, 2008a; Kreher et al, 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Altered language network activity in young people at familial high-risk for schizophrenia

Thermenos

Whitfield-Gabrieli

Seidman

et al. 2013

Schizophrenia Research

Background Abnormalities in language and language neural circuitry are observed in schizophrenia (SZ). Similar, but less pronounced language deficits are also seen in young first-degree relatives of people with SZ, who are at higher familial risk (FHR) for the disorder than the general population. The neural underpinnings of these deficits in people with FHR are unclear. Methods Participants were 43 people with FHR and 32 comparable controls. fMRI scans were collected while participants viewed associated and unrelated word pairs, and performed a lexical decision task. fMRI analyses conducted in SPM8 examined group differences in the modulation of hemodynamic activity by semantic association. Results There were no group differences in demographics, IQ or behavioral semantic priming, but FHR participants had more schizotypal traits than controls. Controls exhibited the expected suppression of hemodynamic activity to associated versus unrelated word pairs. Compared to controls, FHR participants showed an opposite pattern of hemodynamic modulation to associated versus unrelated word pairs, in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), right superior and middle temporal gyrus (STG) and the left cerebellum. Group differences in activation were significant, FWE-corrected for multiple comparisons (p<0.05). Activity within the IFG during the unrelated condition predicted schizotypal symptoms in FHR participants. Conclusions FHR for SZ is associated with abnormally increased neural activity to semantic associates within an inferior frontal/temporal network. This might increase the risk of developing unusual ideas, perceptions and disorganized language that characterize schizotypal traits, potentially predicting which individuals are at greater risk to develop a psychotic disorder.

Journal of Neurolinguistics

“…However, language impairments in schizophrenia are not confined to production. Although, from a clinical perspective, abnormalities of comprehension are more subtle than those of production, there is evidence that patients show selective cognitive impairments on a variety of language processing paradigms (Kuperberg, Ditman, Kreher, & Goldberg, in press). These abnormalities can be linked not only to disorganized speech, but also to other aspects of psychotic thought and behavior in schizophrenia, including delusions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both of these approaches have yielded valuable information. There is evidence that schizophrenia patients show abnormal semantic memory function as indexed using several different tasks and paradigms (for a review, see Kuperberg, Ditman, Kreher, & Goldberg, in press). There is also evidence that both severity of thought disorder and referential communication impairments (discussed further below) correlate with poor performance on various neuropsychological tasks indexing attention (Docherty, Hawkins, Hoffman, Quinlan, Rakfeldt, & Sledge, 1996; Docherty, 2005), distractibility (Hotchkiss & Harvey, 1990; Docherty & Gordinier, 1999), working memory (Kerns, 2007; Docherty & Gordinier, 1999; Docherty, 2005) and other executive functions (Kerns & Berenbaum, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building coherence: A framework for exploring the breakdown of links across clause boundaries in schizophrenia

Ditman

Kuperberg

2010

Self Cite

Clinically, patients with schizophrenia show prominent abnormalities at the discourse level, with production characterized by tangential and illogical relationships between ideas and unclear references. Despite these clinical manifestations, most studies of language in schizophrenia have focused on semantic relationships between single words and the build-up of meaning within singleclause sentences. The present paper discusses the few studies that have gone beyond clause boundaries to fully understand language impairments in schizophrenia. We also give an overview of a relevant literature that considers the neurocognitive mechanisms by which coherence links are established across clauses in healthy adults, providing a framework that may guide future research in this area.