Maher Brendan A, Manschreck Theo C, Linnet Jakob, Candela Steven
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA.
Schizophr Res. 2005 Oct 15;78(2-3):219-24. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2005.05.017.
The intrusion of associations into the utterances of schizophrenic individuals typically disrupts the coherence of the patient's utterances. Recent theoretical formulations of these phenomena have emphasized the hyperactivity) of associational networks in such language disturbance (e.g., Maher, B.A. 2003 Schizophrenia, aberrant utterance and delusions of control: the disconnection of speech and thought, and the connection of experience and belief. Mind and Language, 18, 1-22). There has been only limited effort to quantify such features in patient populations.
We hypothesized that (1) coherent utterances elicited from a sample of schizophrenia patients will present a higher mean frequency of normative associations than in normal controls; and (2) there is a positive association between total associations in utterances and hyperassociative activity (positive facilitation) as assessed by a semantic priming task. Participants included 43 schizophrenic patients and 25 healthy controls. Three measures were employed, a new computer program, Computed Associations in Sequential Text (CAST), to quantify normative associations; a picture description technique for eliciting speech samples; and a semantic priming task to measure associative facilitation.
In coherent utterances, schizophrenia patients produced higher mean totals of associations compared to controls. Patients with positive facilitation scores in the controlled processing interval (1250 ms) of the semantic priming procedure, there was a correlation between facilitation scores and total frequency of associations. This effect was absent in controls.
These results are consistent with models of language disturbance in schizophrenia that posit hyperactivity of associational networks.
联想侵入精神分裂症患者的言语通常会破坏患者言语的连贯性。最近对这些现象的理论阐述强调了联想网络在这种语言障碍中的过度活跃（例如，马赫，B.A. 2003年《精神分裂症、异常言语与控制妄想：言语与思维的脱节，以及体验与信念的联系》。《心灵与语言》，第18卷，第1 - 22页）。在患者群体中对这些特征进行量化的努力有限。
我们假设：（1）从精神分裂症患者样本中引出的连贯言语将呈现出比正常对照组更高的规范联想平均频率；（2）言语中的联想总数与通过语义启动任务评估的过度联想活动（正向促进）之间存在正相关。参与者包括43名精神分裂症患者和25名健康对照组。采用了三种测量方法，一种新的计算机程序，顺序文本中的计算联想（CAST），用于量化规范联想；一种用于引出言语样本的图片描述技术；以及一种用于测量联想促进的语义启动任务。
在连贯言语中，与对照组相比，精神分裂症患者产生的联想平均总数更高。在语义启动程序的受控处理间隔（1250毫秒）中具有正向促进分数的患者，促进分数与联想总频率之间存在相关性。对照组中不存在这种效应。
这些结果与假设联想网络过度活跃的精神分裂症语言障碍模型一致。
