Quantitative assessment of the frequency of normal associations in the utterances of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with models of language disturbance in schizophrenia that posit hyperactivity of associational networks.

Earlier age of first diagnosis in schizophrenia is related to impaired motor control.

We examined the control of motor behavior in relation to age of first diagnosis (AFD; an approximation of age of onset) in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that earlier AFD reflects increased vulnerability to the disorder, vulnerability that may be indexed by elevated levels of motor abnormality. AFD, symptom and demographic features, motor performance on a line drawing task, and the presence and severity of dyskinesia and extrapyramidal side effects were evaluated in 65 chronic schizophrenia subjects. More severely impaired motor control was significantly related to an earlier age of diagnosis. Potential confounds, including age, gender, education, length of illness, current medication dosage, symptom status, and motor side effects, did not appear to influence this relationship, although greater chronicity appeared to be independently related to more severely impaired motor control. In summary, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that an earlier AFD is associated with more pronounced motor impairment.