Moritz Steffen, Woodward Todd S, Küppers Daniela, Lausen Alexandra, Schickel Marc
University Hospital of Hamburg, Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
Schizophr Res. 2003 Feb 1;59(2-3):181-6. doi: 10.1016/s0920-9964(01)00337-1.
Previous research on semantic priming in schizophrenia has produced conflicting findings. While several studies provided evidence for an enhanced cognitive spreading of activation in schizophrenia patients with formal thought disorder, other research has failed to replicate. The aim of the present study was to resolve some of the ambiguities in the literature. Thirty-two schizophrenic patients (12 with and 20 without symptoms of formal thought disorder according to the PANADSS) and 65 healthy controls were compared in a semantic priming task using word pronunciation. Irrespective of baseline condition (neutral or unrelated condition) patients with formal thought disorder (TD) exhibited a significantly greater indirect semantic priming effect than both non-TD patients and healthy controls. Known confounding variables such as length of illness, neuroleptic dosage and psychomotor slowness did not moderate priming. Results further strengthen the spreading activation model of formal thought disorder put forward by Maher/Manschreck and Spitzer. Data indicate that hyper-priming is not confined to lexical decision tasks. Possible reasons why several studies have failed to replicate greater priming in TD schizophrenic patients are discussed.
先前关于精神分裂症语义启动效应的研究结果相互矛盾。虽然多项研究为患有形式性思维障碍的精神分裂症患者激活的认知扩散增强提供了证据，但其他研究未能重复这一结果。本研究的目的是解决文献中的一些模糊之处。在一项使用单词发音的语义启动任务中，对32名精神分裂症患者（根据PANADSS，12名有形式性思维障碍症状，20名没有）和65名健康对照者进行了比较。无论基线条件（中性或无关条件）如何，患有形式性思维障碍（TD）的患者比非TD患者和健康对照者表现出显著更大的间接语义启动效应。已知的混杂变量，如病程、抗精神病药物剂量和精神运动迟缓，并未调节启动效应。结果进一步强化了Maher/Manschreck和Spitzer提出的形式性思维障碍的扩散激活模型。数据表明，过度启动效应并不局限于词汇判断任务。文中讨论了几项研究未能在TD精神分裂症患者中重复更大启动效应的可能原因。
