ERPs of metaphoric, literal, and incongruous semantic processing in schizophrenia.
The ability of schizophrenia patients to access metaphorical meaning was studied on the basis of psycholinguistic models of metaphor processing. ERPs were recorded from 20 schizophrenic and 20 control participants who were asked to read metaphorical, literal, and incongruous sentences and to judge their meaningfulness. In all participants, incongruous endings to sentences evoked the most negative N400 amplitude, whereas literal endings evoked more negative N400 amplitude than metaphorical ones, consistent with the direct model of metaphor processing. Although the patients had ERPs patterns that were similar to controls, they exhibited a more negative N400 amplitude for all sentences, LPC amplitude reduction, and latency delay in both components. The results suggest that schizophrenics have no specific anomalies in accessing the meaning of metaphors but are less efficient in integrating the semantic context of all sentences--both figurative and literal.
Iakimova
Galina
G
Laboratoire Universitaire de Recherche, Service de Psychiatrie Adulte, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, Le Chesnay, France. galina.iakimova@free.fr
Passerieux
Christine
C
Laurent
Jean-Paul
JP
Hardy-Bayle
Marie-Christine
MC
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011932:Reading; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents