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Clinical evidence of separate neuronal systems for phonemic, semantic and action information

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Acta Linguistica Hungarica

Abstract

In this study, we investigated different aspects of semantic-lexicalrepresentation in patients with schizophrenia. The patients were classiffedas having prominent thought disorder (TD) characterized by loosened associationsand negative symptoms (NS) characterized by poverty of speech. The test batteryincluded uency measures (phonological, semantic, and action), picture naming/categorization,and feature retrieval. The schizophrenia patients as a group showed a generalizedword retrieval defficit, together with spared picture naming and impairedpicture categorization/feature retrieval. The patients with TD were especiallyimpaired in the semantic uency and picture categorization tests. The patientswith NS demonstrated marked dysfunctions in the action uency test and theyretrieved inappropriately fewer features in the case of man-made tools. Theseresults support the hypothesis that TD is accompanied by a disturbed semanticsystem, whereas in patients with NS the impairment of the supervisory/executivesystem is the most dominant. The lexical size is normal in mildly affectedschizophrenia patients. Our study further demonstrates that the representationof real-world knowledge is not restricted to a single cognitive module ormemory function. Instead, an integrated operation of a large-scale neuronalnetwork must be taken into consideration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Szeged, Semmelweis utca 6, H-6725, Szeged, Hungary

    Szabolcs Kéri

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Szeged, Semmelweis utca 6, H-6725, Szeged, Hungary

    István Szendi & Zoltán Janka

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Szeged, Semmelweis utca 6, H-6725 Szeged, Hungary

    György Benedek

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  1. Szabolcs Kéri
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  2. István Szendi
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  3. György Benedek
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  4. Zoltán Janka
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Kéri, S., Szendi, I., Benedek, G. et al. Clinical evidence of separate neuronal systems for phonemic, semantic and action information. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 48, 271–290 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015655708050

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