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Assessing the Relationship between Semantic Processing and Thought Disorder Symptoms in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2015

Eric Josiah Tan ,
Erica Neill  and
Susan Lee Rossell
Eric Josiah Tan*
Affiliation:
Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Center, Monash University Central Clinical School, and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Center, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
Erica Neill
Affiliation:
Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Center, Monash University Central Clinical School, and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Center, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
Susan Lee Rossell
Affiliation:
Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Center, Monash University Central Clinical School, and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Center, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Eric Josiah Tan, Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Center, Level 4 607 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia E-mail: eric.tan@monash.edu
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Abstract

Aberrant semantic processing has been linked to the etiology of formal thought disorder (TD) symptoms in schizophrenia. In this cross-sectional study, two prominent theories, overactivation and disorganized structure of semantic memory (SM), were examined in relation to TD symptoms using the continuum approach across two established semantic tasks (direct/indirect semantic priming and categorical fluency). The aim was to examine the validity of the two TD theories in relation to TD symptoms in schizophrenia. Greater direct and indirect priming, fluency productivity and category errors were expected if the data supported the overactivation theory. Reduced fluency productivity and increased category errors would be characteristic of disorganized storage. Fifty-seven schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients and 48 controls completed a clinical assessment and the semantic tasks. There was significantly reduced direct priming in patients compared to controls (p<.05), while indirect priming was not significantly different; there was no association between TD and degree of priming. Patients produced more category-inappropriate words (p<.005) than controls, which was related to increasing severity of circumstantiality. The pattern of results was more indicative of a disorganized SM storage problem in this sample. This phenomenon may underlie some TD symptoms in general schizophrenia. The findings strengthen the relationship between SM deficits and TD symptoms, though this appears to differ between individual symptoms. The authors discuss the value of the continuum approach in addressing research questions in TD etiology. Given low levels of TD in this study, replication of these findings in a sample with greater TD is desirable. (JINS, 2015, 21, 629–638)

Keywords

Semantic memorySemantic primingFluencyOveractivationDisorganized storeContinuum
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 21 , Issue 8 , September 2015 , pp. 629 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2015 

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