Increased automatic spreading activation in healthy 
subjects with elevated scores in a scale assessing 
schizophrenic language disturbances

Moritz, Steffen; Andresen, Burghard; Domin, F.; Martin, Tom; Probsthein, Ellen; Kretschmer, G.; Krausz, Michael; Naber, Dieter; Spitzer, Manfred

doi:10.1017/s0033291798007831

Cited by 56 publications

(56 citation statements)

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“…[15 ] [29 ] of activation in semantic networks. Our results suggest a similar hypothesis, in which excessive automatic (thus rapid) associations promote large clusters and a greater number of items in the VF but at the same time lessen the logical organisation of speech.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlations between cognitive performances and psychotic or schizotypal dimensions

et al. 2009

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ObjectiveTo test if specific correlations exist between cognitive measures and psychotic dimensions in schizophrenic subjects and if similar correlations, between cognition and schizotypal dimensions, are present in non-psychotic subjects.MethodsWe administered the same battery of cognitive tests (Source Monitoring, Verbal Fluency [VF] and Stroop tests) to schizophrenic subjects (N = 54), their first-degree relatives (N = 37) and controls (N = 41). Scores of negative, positive and disorganisation dimensions were derived from the Signs and Symptoms of Psychotic Illness scale in schizophrenic subjects, and from the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire in relatives and controls.ResultsIn schizophrenic subjects, as hypothesised, the negative dimension correlated with performance on VF and disorganisation with performance in the Stroop test. The positive dimension did not correlate with any cognitive measure.With only one exception, the significant correlations observed in non-psychotic subjects did not match correlations seen in schizophrenic subjects. In non-psychotic subjects greater disorganisation was associated with more clustered words in VF suggesting that excessive automatic spreading of activation in semantic networks could underlie this dimension.ConclusionAs a whole, data lent partial support to our hypothesis of specific cognitive–clinical correlations in schizophrenic subjects but did not support the existence of similar correlations in non-psychotic subjects.

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Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlations between cognitive performances and psychotic or schizotypal dimensions

et al. 2009

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“…The hypothesis of dysfunction in automatic activation within semantic networks assumes that the initial activation is faster acting and/or spreads too far, which results in loose associations and derailed thinking (17)(18)(19)(20). The hypothesis of disturbed controlled processes assumes that semantic dysfunction manifests itself later, when the processes of integrating a prior semantic context come into play (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27).…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic Dysfunction in Women With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Niznikiewicz¹,

Shenton²,

Voglmaier³

et al. 2002

AJP

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Objective-This study examined whether early or late processes in semantic networks were abnormal in women with a diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder. The N400 component of the EEG event-related potentials was used as a probe of semantic processes.Method-Word pairs were presented with short and long stimulus-onset asynchronies to investigate, respectively, early and late semantic processes in 16 women with schizotypal personality disorder and 15 normal female comparison subjects. Event-related potentials were recorded in response to the last words in a pair.Results-With the short stimulus-onset asynchrony, the N400 amplitude was less negative in the schizotypal personality disorder group than in the normal comparison group. No group differences were found with the long stimulus-onset asynchrony.Conclusions-The finding of a less negative than normal N400 amplitude with the short stimulusonset asynchrony in women with schizotypal personality disorder supports the hypothesis that persons with this disorder evince an overactivation of semantic networks. The absence of group differences with the long stimulus-onset asynchrony, which is primarily sensitive to processes involved in context integration, suggests that in this group of schizotypal personality disorder subjects, additional demands on working memory may be necessary to bring out the semantic dysfunction.Language dysfunction in schizophrenia has been regarded a cardinal symptom of this disorder for almost a century (1). Clinical reports abound with examples of speech samples characterized by loose associations, lack of sensitivity to context, defective use of pronouns (2-4), or the inability to carry on a conversation bound by a theme (5). More recently, it has been proposed that language abnormalities in schizophrenia are mediated by dysfunctional processes in semantic memory. Specifically, it has been suggested that processes of activation and/or context utilization may be abnormal.Although several studies have investigated semantic processes in schizophrenia, few studies have evaluated schizotypal personality disorder. Persons with a diagnosis of either schizotypal personality disorder or schizophrenia share the same genetic diathesis (6,7). However, persons with schizotypal personality disorder do not have the potentially confounding history of psychosis or hospitalization. Furthermore, studies of cognitive functions in subjects with NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript schizotypal personality disorder have reported impairments similar to but less severe than those observed in schizophrenic subjects (8-11).Semantic memory can be thought of in terms of its structure and the processes that operate on it. Recent formulations postulate that the structure of semantic memory is instantiated by a network of semantic features, such that words close in meaning, such as "water," "fish," and "ocean," are well connected with each other, and words of distant meanings, such as "water," "pen," and "free," are not w...

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“…For example, Maher et al (1996) found that priming effects were inversely correlated with length of illness such that patients with a longer history of disease generally showed reduced priming effects. Moritz et al (1999) cited studies that show strong medication effects on semantic priming (Barch et al, 1996) and severe problems in processing quickly presented items among schizophrenic subjects (Spaulding et al, 1989). In a subsequent paper, Moritz et al (2001) argued that the discrepancy in priming results may be reflective of differing levels of thought disorder, with thought disordered patients showing greater priming effects than non-thought disordered patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional neuroimaging of word priming in males with chronic schizophrenia

et al. 2007

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Word-priming studies have suggested that the associative disturbance of schizophrenia may reflect aberrant spread of activation through the lexicon of the brain. To explore this, we examined lexical activation using a semantic word-priming paradigm coupled with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We also wanted to determine whether brain activation to this paradigm correlated with relevant clinical symptom measures. In addition to completing clinical symptom measures, twelve chronic patients and twelve demographically-matched control subjects completed a lexicaldecision semantic-priming paradigm developed as an event-related BOLD fMRI task. This paradigm consisted of words that differed in connectivity. Words with many connections between shared semantic associates are considered high in connectivity and produce the largest behavioral semantic priming effects in control subjects, while words with few connections between shared semantic associates are considered low in connectivity and produce a relatively smaller amount of semantic priming. In fMRI, a respective step-wise increase in activation from high connectivity to low connectivity to unrelated word pairs was expected for normal subjects. Controls showed the expected pattern of activation to word connectivity; however, patients showed a less robust pattern of activation to word connectivity. Furthermore, this aberrant response correlated with measures of Auditory Hallucinations, Distractive Speech, Illogicality, and Incoherence. The patients did not display left frontal and temporal activation as a function of the degree of word connectivity as seen in healthy controls. This may reflect a disease-related disturbance in functional connectivity of lexical activation, which in turn may be associated with clinical symptomatology.

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Increased automatic spreading activation in healthy subjects with elevated scores in a scale assessing schizophrenic language disturbances

Cited by 56 publications

References 56 publications

Correlations between cognitive performances and psychotic or schizotypal dimensions

Correlations between cognitive performances and psychotic or schizotypal dimensions

Semantic Dysfunction in Women With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Functional neuroimaging of word priming in males with chronic schizophrenia

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