Internal source monitoring and communication disturbance in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: This study examined the relationship between internal source monitoring and disordered speech in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. It was predicted that internal source monitoring would relate specifically to one type of communication disturbance, the missing information reference.

Method: Immediate, working, and internal source memory were assessed in 47 out-patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Speech samples were also collected from this sample and coded for six types of communication disturbance.

Results: Of the six types of communication disturbance coded in this study, internal source monitoring indices were uniquely related to the frequency of the missing information reference. Furthermore, internal source monitoring was the only type of short-term memory process assessed in this study that was related to the missing information reference. Neither immediate nor working-memory capacity was related significantly to the frequency of this type of communication disturbance.

Conclusions: This study adds to our knowledge of the neurocognitive processes that underlie communication disturbance in the speech of patients with schizophrenia.