Unit of Research and Development, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Spain.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Jan 30;205(1-2):1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.08.007. Epub 2012 Sep 1.
Numerous studies have indicated that thought disorganization in schizophrenia is associated with an enhanced semantic priming effect. This suggests abnormal functioning of the semantic network in these patients, with disinhibited spreading of semantic activation. We investigated whether thought disorganization is also associated with atypical responses in the production of semantic category exemplars. An exemplar production task was administered to 43 patients with schizophrenia and 24 healthy controls. The names of 16 semantic categories were provided, and the participants were requested to produce an exemplar for each category. The typicality of the response was rated according to norms. Higher ratings of thought disorganization were associated with the production of more atypical exemplars. In addition, the patients with high thought disorganization scores were significantly more atypical in their responses than were the healthy controls. In contrast, the patients with low thought disorganization scores were equivalent to the healthy controls. Higher ratings of affective flattening were associated with the production of less atypical exemplars. The results corroborate, within a different paradigm than semantic priming, the theory that thought disorganization is associated with faster and more distant connections within the semantic network. This effect is counteracted by affective flattening.
大量研究表明，精神分裂症中的思维紊乱与增强的语义启动效应有关。这表明这些患者的语义网络功能异常，语义激活的抑制扩散。我们研究了思维紊乱是否也与语义类别范例产生中的异常反应有关。对 43 名精神分裂症患者和 24 名健康对照者进行了范例产生任务。提供了 16 个语义类别名称，并要求参与者为每个类别生成一个范例。根据规范对反应的典型性进行评分。思维紊乱评分较高与产生更不典型的范例有关。此外，高思维紊乱评分的患者的反应比健康对照组明显更不典型。相比之下，思维紊乱评分较低的患者与健康对照组相当。情感迟钝评分较高与产生较少不典型范例有关。这些结果在与语义启动不同的范式内证实了这样一种理论，即思维紊乱与语义网络内更快和更远的连接有关。这种效应被情感迟钝所抵消。
