Relationship between specific types of communication deviance and attentional performance in patients with...

Communication Deviance (CD) characterizes the speech of schizophrenic patients and their relatives. The relationship between specific types of CD as measured from verbatim transcripts of Thematic Apperception Test protocols and attentional performance was investigated in 27 patients with schizophrenia. Assessments were conducted just prior to hospital discharge. Results revealed that a continuous performance attentional test with visually presented stimuli was most highly related to the CD factor indicating that the respondent had misperceived elements of the card. A continuous performance attentional test with auditory stimuli was found to be associated with the factor reflecting odd language use in the speaker. A measure of selective attention/executive control, from the Stroop Color-Word test, was found to be most highly related to the CD factors which involve higher level functions such as abstraction and integration of various elements of the card into a coherent story. Results suggest that CD may be a behavioral consequence of deficits in attention and executive control, and add to the growing literature suggesting that specific types of neuropsychological deficits can be linked to specific overt behaviors.