Baskak Bora, Ozel E Tugba, Atbasoglu E Cem, Baskak Seda C
Ankara University, School of Medicine, Psychiatry Department, Neuropsychiatry Research Unit, Dikimevi, Ankara, Turkey.
Schizophr Res. 2008 Aug;103(1-3):311-7. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2008.04.025. Epub 2008 Jun 5.
Peculiar word use in schizophrenia has been emphasized by many authors, however the definition or the linguistic and clinical correlates of this phenomenon are not clear. We propose a new, standard and reliable method to extract a numerical measure of peculiar word use with operationalized definitions. We applied a modified version of the Controlled Word Association Test (Turkish version) to a pool of healthy subjects (N=55) and used the data as norm to compare the degree of peculiarity and patterns of word association among patients with schizophrenia (N=33), their healthy siblings (N=31) and healthy controls (N=32). We also explored the relationship of peculiar word use with patterns of word association (semantic versus phonologic) and formal thought disorder. Patients and their siblings performed worse on measures of verbal fluency. They also generated more peculiar words and relied less on semantic associations, compared to healthy controls. Peculiar word use was associated with the severity of formal thought disorder and the tendency to make use of phonologic associations in the patient group and their siblings, whereas neither of the word association patterns predicted peculiar word use in the control group. Our results provide empirical support to previous observations about the peculiarity of schizophrenic speech. Peculiar word use could be associated with a deficit to employ semantic classifications in verbal fluency tasks and thus relying more on sound-based associations. Excess use of phonologic associations may be playing a mediating role between semantic processing abnormalities and formal thought disorder.
许多作者都强调了精神分裂症中奇特的词汇使用情况，然而这种现象的定义以及语言和临床关联尚不清楚。我们提出了一种新的、标准且可靠的方法，通过可操作的定义来提取奇特词汇使用的数值度量。我们将受控词语联想测试（土耳其语版本）的修改版应用于一组健康受试者（N = 55），并将这些数据作为标准，以比较精神分裂症患者（N = 33）、他们的健康兄弟姐妹（N = 31）和健康对照组（N = 32）之间的奇特程度和词语联想模式。我们还探讨了奇特词汇使用与词语联想模式（语义与语音）以及形式思维障碍之间的关系。患者及其兄弟姐妹在言语流畅性测量方面表现较差。与健康对照组相比，他们还产生了更多奇特的词汇，并且较少依赖语义联想。在患者组及其兄弟姐妹中，奇特词汇使用与形式思维障碍的严重程度以及使用语音联想的倾向相关，而在对照组中，这两种词语联想模式均无法预测奇特词汇使用情况。我们的结果为先前关于精神分裂症言语奇特之处的观察提供了实证支持。奇特词汇使用可能与在言语流畅性任务中运用语义分类的缺陷有关，因此更多地依赖基于声音的联想。过度使用语音联想可能在语义处理异常和形式思维障碍之间起中介作用。
