An investigation of semantic priming in schizophrenia using a new priming paradigm.

Schizophr Res

Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS et Université de Provence, Centre St Charles, Bâtiment 9, Case D, 3 place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France.

Published: December 2005

In the present study, twenty schizophrenic patients and twenty healthy controls were tested in a new priming paradigm that allows a clear distinction to be made between automatic, perceptual priming effects and effects related to decision bias. Participants had to identify briefly presented masked target words preceded by clearly visible primes that were semantically related to the target or not. Target presentation duration corresponded to a pre-determined perceptual threshold for each participant, and a two-alternative forced-choice methodology was used. Equivalent amounts of semantic priming were found in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy controls. However, for the schizophrenic patients, a positive correlation was found between the size of automatic perceptual priming effects and formal thought disorders, as measured by Andreasen's Thought, Language and Communication (TLC) scale. The new paradigm tested in the present study overcomes some of the limitations of prior research on semantic priming in schizophrenia, and provides further evidence suggesting that an increased spreading of activation in the semantic network could partly underlie formal thought disorders in schizophrenia.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2005.07.020DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

semantic priming
12
schizophrenic patients
12
priming schizophrenia
8
priming paradigm
8
healthy controls
8
automatic perceptual
8
perceptual priming
8
priming effects
8
formal thought
8
thought disorders
8

Similar Publications

The present study uses event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate lexicosemantic prediction in native speakers (L1) of English and advanced second language (L2) learners of English with Swedish as their L1. The main goal of the study was to examine whether learners recruit predictive mechanisms to the same extent as L1 speakers when a change in the linguistic environment renders prediction a useful strategy to pursue. The study, which uses a relatedness proportion paradigm adapted from Lau et al.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Task-irrelevant sounds that are semantically congruent with the target can facilitate performance in visual search tasks, resulting in faster search times. In three experiments, we tested the underlying processes of this effect. Participants were presented with auditory primes that were semantically congruent, neutral, or incongruent to the visual search target, and importantly, we varied the set size of the search displays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Words before pictures: the role of language in biasing visual attention.

Front Psychol

December 2024

Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.

Background: The present study investigated whether semantic processing of word and object primes can bias visual attention using top-down influences, even within an exogenous cueing framework. We hypothesized that real words and familiar objects would more effectively bias attentional engagement and target detection than pseudowords or pseudo-objects, as they can trigger prior knowledge to influence attention orienting and target detection.

Methods: To examine this, we conducted two web-based eye-tracking experiments that ensured participants maintained central fixation on the screen during remote data collection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the attentional blink paradigm, participants attempt to identify two targets appearing in a rapidly presented stream of distractors. Report accuracy is typically high for the first target (T1) while identification of the second target (T2) is impaired when it follows within about 200-400 ms of T1. An important question is whether T2 is processed to a semantic level even when participants are unaware of its identity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!