Schizophrenic Thought Disorder Research Articles

Speech competence of children vulnerable to psychopathology

Verbal productivity and cohesion and reference patterns of children of schizophrenics (N = 23), unipolars (N = 43), bipolars (N = 38), and normals (N = 53) were assessed using the Rochester and Martin (1979) evaluation system. Children of all offspring groups could be discriminated from one another, with children of schizophrenics showing the most deviant speech performance across all dependent measures. Children of schizophrenics were less verbally productive and had poorer patterns of cohesion between ideas than children of normals. In addition, they produced more unclear and ambiguous references to previously mentioned ideas than did children of normals. The consistency of deviance and performance on specific dependent variables in these children at risk for schizophrenia was similar to the speech performance of thought-disordered schizophrenics. Possible explanations for these similarities were discussed and evaluated.

Conceptual Disorder in Schizophrenia as a Function of Encoding Orientation

This study evaluated the hypothesis that schizophrenic conceptual disorder derives from abnormal verbal encoding, geared to salient affective and physical cues at the expense of conceptual attributes. Subjects were 63 adult psychotic inpatients, including 42 schizophrenics and 21 nonschizophrenics of similar age, sex, race, and chronicity. They underwent 12 trials on Wickens' release from proactive interference (PI) procedure to measure reliance on three dimensions for encoding: conceptual (taxonomic class), affective (Evaluation axis of the semantic differential), and physical (rhyming sounds). The release effect for schizophrenics, compared with controls, was found to be significantly weaker on the conceptual dimension and correspondingly stronger on the affective dimension. Whereas controls exhibited the normal attraction to conceptual over other cues, schizophrenics presented a flat profile. Nonparanoid and thought-disordered schizophrenics showed particular deficits on the conceptual dimension. All schizophrenic groups contrasted controls by their diminished PI release with less salient concepts. The results thus suggested that encoding by schizophrenics is uniquely oriented to stimulus salience rather than semantic relevance. A fundamental deficiency in processing of cues essential for conceptual operations, accordingly, seems to underlie the conceptual dysfunction in schizophrenia. The implications were discussed in relation to diversities in the cognitive literature and prevalent theories.

Inconsistent interpersonal judgment in thought-disordered schizophrenia.

Working from the premise that the clinical condition of thought-disordered schizophrenia is generally accompanied with a breakdown in interpersonal relationships, the current study examined the hypothesis that thought-disordered schizophrenics are more inconsistent in their judgment of significant others according to psychological or affective dimensions than non-thought-disordered individuals. In the current study 13 thought-disordered schizophrenic and 13 non-thought-disordered psychiatric outpatients were administered the Interpersonal Judgment Scale on a test-retest basis to attain an index of interpersonal judgment consistency. Results show that the schizophrenic subjects were significantly less consistent in their assignment of ratings on the Interpersonal Judgment Scale retest than the non-schizophrenic subjects. The relationship between inconsistent interpersonal judgment and the clinical concept of “loosened construing” is discussed.

Research findings on the nature of constructs in schizophrenics.

Using a personal construct theory approach, Radley (1974) proposes a theoretical view about the nature and genesis of schizophrenic thought disorder. In this study, we replicate some results of previous studies on which Radley relies and we test some implications of his view. A test, consisting of the four possible combinations of elicited and supplied constructs and elicited and supplied elements was administered on group of schizophrenics, part of them being thought disordered (TD), part of them being not thought disordered (NTD) at the moment of testing and on a matched group of normals. An additional test was administered in order to obtain a maldistribution score. Our findings confirm most of the characteristics of the TD and NTD phase in schizophrenics, as proposed by Radley and they suggest some additions to that view. Moreover, they call for some changes in the scoring system of the Grid Test for Schizophrenic Thought Disorder (Bannister & Fransella, 1967) by using the Element Consistency, Social Agreement and maldistribution scores and Intensity and Differentiation scores of only the retest.

Contextual constraint and the recall of verbal material in schizophrenia: the effect of thought disorder.

Some research indicates that thought-disordered schizophrenics produce language utterances that are less predictable than those of non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and controls. We examined the hypothesis that thought-disordered schizophrenics would have a parallel deficiency in the ability to use the predictabilities provided by contextual constraint to improve recall of heard language passages. Subjects were seventeen schizophrenics, ten normal controls, and twelve psychiatric controls, evaluated by standardized psychiatric interview and diagnosed according to research criteria. The data obtained supported the hypothesis and non-thought-disordered schizophrenics performed similarly to controls in the experimental task. Failure to classify schizophrenic subjects on the dimension of though disorder may result in misleading comparisons of general samples of schizophrenics with controls on tasks requiring language perception and production.

Heightened Subjective Distress as an Indicator of the Severity of Thought Disorder

Utilizing Bannister and Fransella's Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder and a brief “level of distress” rating scale, the relationship between subjective stress and structural thought disorder was examined on a sample of 38 schizophrenic inpatients. Based on initial intensity and consistency scores, all patients were assigned to one of the following three groups: thought-disordered, intermediate, or non-thought-disordered. After 8 wk., the patients were again administered the grid test and distress-rating scale. Patients in the thought-disordered group who reported the most distress were functioning under the greatest conceptual disorganization. No relationship was evidenced between the intermediate and non-thought-disordered group's distress ratings and grid test scores, however. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

Thought disorder in schizophrenics and normal controls: Social class and race differences.

Thought disorder in schizophrenics and normal controls: Social class and race differences.

Evidence for organicity in concrete vs. overinclusive thought-disordered schizophrenics.

Matched 20 overinclusive schizophrenics, 13 schizophrenics with a concrete thought disorder, defined in terms of performance errors on a conceptual ability test, and 11 brain-damaged patients on age, education, vocabulary proficiency, severity of illness and length of hospitalization. Ss then were given the Combined Test Battery for Organicity. No differences were found between the overinclusive and concrete schizophrenics on any measure of organicity. The Organic Test Battery had poor concurrent validity in distinguishing between brain-damaged and schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenics with a concrete thought disorder have a relatively rare condition that continues to defy explanation, though on the basis of past research an organic involvement seems to be the most parsimonious explanation.

The specificity of schizophrenic thought disorder.

Bannister and Salmon (1966), in a repertory grid study, reported that 'thought-disordered schizophrenics lost significantly more reliability and social agreement when shifted from object to people construing than normal'. This conclusion is of doubtful validity, since the between-grids variable, people vs. objects, was confounded with at least five other variables of possible relevance, three of which have been found by subsequent workers (McPherson & Buckley, 1970; Williams, 1971; Heather, 1976) to affect performance on grids. The main aim of the present experiment was to determine the effects of as many as possible of these variables. The subsidiary aim was to replicate, or otherwise, the findings of Frith & Lillie (1972) and Haynes & Phillips (1973) that the effective discriminator between thought-disorder schizophrenics and other groups on repertory grid tests is not intensity of relationship between constructs but pure (element or internal) consistency. Six grids involving all feasible combinations of rating familiar and unfamiliar people and objects on psychological and physical constructs were administered to 10 thought-disordered schizophrenics, 10 non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and 10 normals. As regards the main aim of the experiment it was found that there was no significant grids x diagnoses interaction on pure consistency, but that there was one on intensity, even with pure consistency partialled out. Taking previous work into consideration, it appears that this effect is weak, inconsistent from experiment to experiment, and anomalous in the present study. As regards the subsidiary aim, the findings of the two previous experiments cited above were confirmed. The discrepant results of McPherson et al. (1973) are considered, and it is noted that they held only for a subsample of the schizophrenic group in that experiment, the results for the total sample of schizophrenics, manics and depressives not being inconsistent with those of other experiments. The theoretical and practical implications of these and previous finding are indicated.

Thought disorder in schizophrenics and normal controls: social class and race differences.

Thought disorder in schizophrenics and normal controls: social class and race differences.

The effect of motivation on loose thinking in schizophrenics as measured by the Bannister-Fransella Grid Test.

Administered the Bannister-Fransella Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder to 40 male schizophrenics. Half of them received a monetary reward for their performance, and half did not. The efficacy of this motivation-enhancing manipulation was verified by the fact that the group that was working for the money completed a card sorting task significantly faster than the group that received no compensation. However, the former group also exhibited more thought disorder on the grid test. The results were interpreted in terms of drive theory. It was argued that the rewarded group was more motivated and therefore more highly aroused and that this high arousal level disrupted performance on the more complex task. The findings do not support the hypothesis that lack of motivation contributes to schizophrenic cognitive deficit.

The organization of judgements based on positive and negative adjectives in the Bannister-Fransella Grid Test.

This study compared the level of organization of judgements involving evaluatively positive (E+) adjectives such as kind with that of judgements involving evaluatively negative (E-) adjectives such as stupid in the Bannister-Fransella Grid Test. The grids of 275 subjects, including 43 normals, 24 thought-disordered schizophrenics, 30 non-thought-disordered schizophrenics, 50 "mixed" schizophrenics, 18 depressives, 16 neurotics, and 94 undiagnosed new admissions were examined. The organization of judgements based on E+ ones across all ten groups. These results are inconsistent with the "null hypothesis" that the grids of thought-disordered schizophrenics contain only random "error variance" since they reveal a source of systematic variation in the grids of thought-disordered schizophrenics as well as those of other populations. These data were discussed also in relation to the hypothesis that comparative judgements involving E- adjectives are more difficult than those involving E+ ones.

The Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder: A Critical Appraisal

The development and standardization of Bannister and Fransella’s (1967) Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder is reviewed and subsequent studies, concerned with the test’s diagnostic validity, are critically evaluated. It is concluded that the available data indicate that the rate of misclassification on the test is too high to justify its being employed in the assessment of individual patients. It is, therefore, recommended that its clinical use be discontinued.

A Further Attempt to Cross‐validate the Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder

A retrospective investigation to assess the validity of the Grid Test of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder (Bannister & Fransella, 1966, 1967) is reported. Analysis of the data revealed that, while there is some evidence to support the validity of the test, it failed to discriminate between clinically assessed thought-disordered and non-thought-disordered patients at an acceptable level of significance, and that the rate of misclassification was too high to justify the use of the test in the assessment of an individual case. The results are compared with the findings of other published studies, and weaknesses in methodology, due to the retrospective nature of the study, are also discussed.

How to test hypotheses about schizophrenic thought disorder.

How to test hypotheses about schizophrenic thought disorder.

A note on the scoring of the grid test of schizophrenic thought disorder.

A note on the scoring of the grid test of schizophrenic thought disorder.

Payne's Object Classification Nonabstract Scores and Lovibond's Measure of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder

The present study attempted to replicate an earlier, unpublished observation of a strong, positive relationship between two indices of schizophrenic thought disorder. Object Classification Test nonabstract (OCT-NA) scores (Payne & Hewlett, 1960). a measure of overinclusive thinking, and Lovibond's (1954) scale had correlated .62 for a sample of 21 young, male. poor-premorbid, schizophrenic inpatients examined by the author. The present sample comprised 41 male inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenic reaction. Only patients who had not been first hospitalized nor diagnosed as schizophrenic for more than 5 yr. were included: 26 Ss were rated as poor-premorbids, 15 as goods; 19 obtained paranoid. 22 Ss, non-paranoid subtype diagnoses. Lovibond scores were derived from Part I1 of Rapaport's (1945) Object Sorting Test and scored by Lovibond's (1954) criteria. The nonabsuact scores from the Object Classification Test were derived according to Payne and Hewlett's (1960) specifications. The order of presentation of the two sorting tests was consecutively alternated throughout the sample. Patients were tested by a female examiner. The product-moment correlation of the nonabstract and Lovibond scores was .32 (p < .05). This finding suggests that the two measures of schizophrenic thought disorder are somewhat related but does not support the hypothesis of a strong relationship between the two indices. Comparisons indicate that the nonabstract mean (2.61) and standard deviation (2.99) for the present sample were considerably smaller than the comparable values for the original patient group (M = 6.71; SD = 4.39). Similarly the Lovibond score mean (3.44) and standard deviation (2.84) were less than those obtained originally (M = 6.71; SD = 6.54). Statistical estimations showed that the sample-t* sample differences in rs are probably due to sample differences in score dispersions. Internal analysis did not support an explanation of the differences in score dispersion based on subjects' characreristics. While marked study-to-study variation in means and standard deviations seems to be a general characteristic of nonabstract scores and other measures of overinclusive thinking, the sources of such variation remain open to speculation and further inquiry.

Schizophrenic thought disorder and the nature of personal constructs.

Using a personal construct theory approach, Bannister (1960) has put forward the hypothesis that schizophrenic thought disorder is the result of progressive loosening of construct relationships. This paper reviews the evidence for this hypothesis both in the light of recent claims that schizophrenic thinking is not ‘loose’ but is inconsistent, and with respect to the issue of cognitive complexity, a measure of normal thinking which is operationally similar to ‘looseness’. Based upon a comparison of normal, paranoid and non‐paranoid schizophrenic thinking, discussed within the framework of interpersonal construing, an attempt is made to trace the course of schizophrenic thought disorder. An alternative interpretation of ‘loose construing’ is offered, based not upon the association between constructs, but upon the way in which the schizoid person frames his constructs about the people towards whom he is attempting to maintain a consistent attitude.

über den Einfluss psychoorganischer Beeinträchtigung im Alter auf den Verlauf sogenannter Spätschizophrenien

Empirical findings are reported concerning the relationship between psychoorganic deterioration in old age and the course and clinical symptoms (delusions, presenting symptoms) of the so-called late schizophrenias. The probands were reexamined in their senium decades after the onset of the illness. A significant relationship was found between severe psychoorganic deterioration occurring in old age and a chronic course of the psychoses, generally and particularly in the senium, and between severe psychoorganic deterioration and the occurrence of schizophrenic thought-disorder as the main symptom. Absent or slight psychoorganic deterioration in old age was found significantly co-related to manic-depressive dysthymia as the main symptom. Further development of delusions appears to be independent of the degree of psychoorganic deterioration in old age.

Inconsistency, loose construing and schizophrenic thought disorder.

Bannister (1960, 1962) found that thought-disordered schizophrenics had significantly lower scores on a repertory grid test of the intensity of the relationships between their constructs than did non-thought disordered schizophrenics, normals, neurotics and (in the 1962 study only) depressives. This finding has been confirmed, sometimes in slightly different ways, by a number of subsequent studies (vide infra). On the basis of his results, Bannister put forward the theory that schizophrenic thought disorder is characterized by ‘loosened construing’, which can account for all its clinical signs, and which stems from repeated invalidations of construing. This theory has been followed up in a number of subsequent investigations (Bannister, 1963, 1965; Bannister and Salmon, 1966).