Small Words That Matter: Linguistic Style and Conceptual Disorganization in Untreated First-Episode Schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to shed light on the linguistic style affecting the communication discourse in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) by investigating the analytic thinking index in relation to clinical scores of conceptual and thought disorganization (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, PANSS-P2 and Thought and Language Index, TLI). Using robust Bayesian modeling, we report three major findings: (1) FES subjects showed reduced analytic thinking, exhibiting a less categorical linguistic style than healthy control (HC) subjects (Bayes factor, BF₁₀ > 1000), despite using the same proportion of function and content words as HCs; (2) the lower the analytic thinking score, the higher the symptoms scores of conceptual disorganization (PANSS-P2, BF = 22.66) and global disorganization of

SUBMITTER: Silva A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8072135 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature