Pizzagalli D, Lehmann D, Brugger P
The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Psychopathology. 2001 Mar-Apr;34(2):75-80. doi: 10.1159/000049284.
The present investigation tested the hypothesis that, as an aspect of schizotypal thinking, the formation of paranormal beliefs was related to spreading activation characteristics within semantic networks. From a larger student population (n = 117) prescreened for paranormal belief, 12 strong believers and 12 strong disbelievers (all women) were invited for a lateralized semantic priming task with directly and indirectly related prime-target pairs. Believers showed stronger indirect (but not direct) semantic priming effects than disbelievers after left (but not right) visual field stimulation, indicating faster appreciation of distant semantic relations specifically by the right hemisphere, reportedly specialized in coarse rather than focused semantic processing. These results are discussed in the light of recent findings in schizophrenic patients with thought disorders. They suggest that a disinhibition with semantic networks may underlie the formation of paranormal belief. The potential usefulness of work with healthy subjects for neuropsychiatric research is stressed.
作为分裂型思维的一个方面，超自然信念的形成与语义网络内的扩散激活特征有关。从经过超自然信念预筛选的更大规模学生群体（n = 117）中，邀请了12名坚定的信仰者和12名坚定的不信者（均为女性）参与一项采用直接和间接相关的启动-目标对的侧化语义启动任务。在左视野（而非右视野）刺激后，信仰者比不信者表现出更强的间接（而非直接）语义启动效应，这表明右半球能更快地理解远距离语义关系，据报道右半球专门负责粗略而非聚焦的语义处理。根据近期对患有思维障碍的精神分裂症患者的研究结果对这些结果进行了讨论。结果表明，语义网络的去抑制可能是超自然信念形成的基础。强调了对健康受试者开展研究对于神经精神病学研究的潜在用处。
