Saban-Bezalel Ronit, Mashal Nira
The School of Education, Bar Ilan UniversityRamat Gan, Israel.
Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan UniversityRamat Gan, Israel.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 13;8:943. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00943. eCollection 2017.
Studies focusing on the comprehension of figurative language among schizophrenia patients (SZ) reveal their difficulties comprehending such language and their tendency to interpret it literally. The present study investigated hemispheric processing and comprehension of irony in 16 SZ patients and 18 typically developing (TD) adults. Two experimental tasks were used: an online divided visual field experiment and an offline irony questionnaire. The results show an atypical reversal of hemispheric processing of irony in SZ patients as compared to TD adults. While the TD group demonstrated a right hemisphere advantage in processing irony, SZ patients demonstrated a left hemisphere advantage. Greater comprehension of irony was associated with decreased negative symptoms. In addition, under conditions that not involving a time restriction, the SZ patients' performance improved. Our findings reinforce those of previous studies suggesting that brain lateralization is atypical in SZ patients.
针对精神分裂症患者（SZ）对比喻性语言理解的研究表明，他们在理解此类语言时存在困难，且倾向于从字面意义进行解读。本研究调查了16名精神分裂症患者和18名发育正常（TD）成年人对反讽的半球加工和理解情况。使用了两项实验任务：一项在线视野分割实验和一份离线反讽问卷。结果显示，与发育正常的成年人相比，精神分裂症患者对反讽的半球加工出现了非典型的反转。虽然发育正常组在加工反讽时表现出右半球优势，但精神分裂症患者表现出左半球优势。对反讽的更好理解与阴性症状的减轻相关。此外，在不涉及时间限制的条件下，精神分裂症患者的表现有所改善。我们的研究结果强化了先前研究的发现，表明精神分裂症患者的大脑半球功能偏侧化是不典型的。
