A study of the relationship between receptive and expressive language processing in schizophrenia

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event A study of the relationship between receptive and expressive language processing in schizophrenia Eric Tan1*, Gregory Yelland2 and Susan Rossell3, 4 1 Monash University, Monash-Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Australia 2 Monash University, Australia 3 Swinburne University of Technology, Brain and Psychological Sciences research centre, Australia 4 Monash-Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Australia Background: Traditional language models propose a relationship between the two components of language processing: receptive/comprehension and expressive/production. Dysfunction of language production has been recognised in schizophrenia, notably in the aberrant speech patterns termed formal thought disorder (TD). Presently, language production in schizophrenia is better characterised than language comprehension. This study thus aimed to expand on current understanding of language comprehension in schizophrenia, and examine its relationship to individual TD symptoms. Two aspects were studied: word/lexical recognition, and meaning attribution for words and sentences. Method: Fifty-seven schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients and 48 healthy controls completed a clinical assessment and three language tasks assessing word recognition, synonym identification and sentence comprehension. Poorer patient performance was expected on the latter two tasks. Results: Results indicated that recognition of word form was not impaired in schizophrenia, indicating intact lexical processing. While single word synonym identification was not significantly impaired, there was a tendency to attribute word meanings based on phonological similarity, which increased with severity of some TD symptoms. Importantly, there was a significant sentence comprehension deficit for processing deep structure, which correlated with severity of selective TD symptoms. Conclusions: Sentence comprehension appears to be impaired here, which supports the case for some receptive language processing deficits in schizophrenia. There is also evidence for a relationship between aspects of language comprehension and speech production, which suggests a role for the former in TD aetiology, which differs between individual symptom types (i.e. derailment and circumstantiality). The remediation of language comprehension problems may thus be an avenue to pursue in alleviating TD symptomatology. Keywords: Language, Schizophrenia, syntax, Language comprehension, Language production, formal thought disorder, lexical-semantics Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Language Citation: Tan E, Yelland G and Rossell S (2015). A study of the relationship between receptive and expressive language processing in schizophrenia. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00404 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Mr. Eric Tan, Monash University, Monash-Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Eric.Tan@monash.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Eric Tan Gregory Yelland Susan Rossell Google Eric Tan Gregory Yelland Susan Rossell Google Scholar Eric Tan Gregory Yelland Susan Rossell PubMed Eric Tan Gregory Yelland Susan Rossell Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.