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Word associations and schizophrenic symptoms
1Psychology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185.
Journal of Psychiatric Research
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Schizophrenia symptoms impact language. Negative symptoms linked to unusual word associations, while positive symptoms relate to difficulties using common word associations, suggesting distinct language disturbances.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Clinical Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms.
- Language disturbances are common in schizophrenia.
- The relationship between symptom type and specific language deficits requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the link between word association task performance and schizophrenia symptom dimensions.
- To differentiate language disturbances associated with positive versus negative symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Fifty inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia participated.
- Symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.
- Participants completed a word association task, with and without a sentence-completion component.
Main Results:
- Negative symptoms significantly correlated with idiosyncratic word associations.
- Positive symptoms did not significantly correlate with overall idiosyncratic responses.
- Patients with positive symptoms struggled to use common associations in sentences, while those with negative symptoms struggled with idiosyncratic ones.
Conclusions:
- Distinct patterns of language disturbance may be associated with positive and negative schizophrenia symptoms.
- Idiosyncratic associations are more linked to negative symptoms, while difficulties with common associations relate to positive symptoms.
- Sentence-contextualization reveals differential abilities in using word associations based on symptom presentation.