Speech deficits in serious mental illness: a cognitive resource issue?
Schizophr Res
; 160(1-3): 173-9, 2014 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25464920
ABSTRACT
Speech deficits, notably those involved in psychomotor retardation, blunted affect, alogia and poverty of content of speech, are pronounced in a wide range of serious mental illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia, unipolar depression, bipolar disorders). The present project evaluated the degree to which these deficits manifest as a function of cognitive resource limitations. We examined natural speech from 52 patients meeting criteria for serious mental illnesses (i.e., severe functional deficits with a concomitant diagnosis of schizophrenia, unipolar and/or bipolar affective disorders) and 30 non-psychiatric controls using a range of objective, computer-based measures tapping speech production ("alogia"), variability ("blunted vocal affect") and content ("poverty of content of speech"). Subjects produced natural speech during a baseline condition and while engaging in an experimentally-manipulated cognitively-effortful task. For correlational analysis, cognitive ability was measured using a standardized battery. Generally speaking, speech deficits did not differ as a function of SMI diagnosis. However, every speech production and content measure was significantly abnormal in SMI versus control groups. Speech variability measures generally did not differ between groups. For both patients and controls as a group, speech during the cognitively-effortful task was sparser and less rich in content. Relative to controls, patients were abnormal under cognitive load with respect only to average pause length. Correlations between the speech variables and cognitive ability were only significant for this same variable average pause length. Results suggest that certain speech deficits, notably involving pause length, may manifest as a function of cognitive resource limitations. Implications for treatment, research and assessment are discussed.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Psicologia do Esquizofrênico
/
Fala
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Transtorno Bipolar
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Transtorno Depressivo Maior
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Schizophr Res
Assunto da revista:
PSIQUIATRIA
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de publicação:
HOLANDA
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HOLLAND
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NETHERLANDS
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NL
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PAISES BAJOS
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THE NETHERLANDS