RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPECIFIC TYPES OF COMMUNICATION DEVIANCE AND ATTENTIONAL PERFORMANCE IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Communication Deviance (CD) characterizes the speech of schizophrenic patients and their relatives. The relationship between specific types of CD as measured from verbatim transcripts of Thematic Apperception T est protocols and attentional performance was investigated in 27 patie nts with schizophrenia. Assessments were conducted just prior to hospi tal discharge. Results revealed that a continuous performance attentio nal test with visually presented stimuli was most highly related to th e CD factor indicating that the respondent had misperceived elements o f the card. A continuous performance attentional test with auditory st imuli was found to be associated with the factor reflecting odd langua ge use in the speaker. A measure of selective attention/executive cont rol, from the Stroop Color-Word test, was found to be most highly rela ted to the CD factors which involve higher level functions such as abs traction and integration of various elements of the card into a cohere nt story. Results suggest that CD may be a behavioral consequence of d eficits in attention and executive control, and add to the growing lit erature suggesting that specific types of neuropsychological deficits can be linked to specific overt behaviors. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science I reland Ltd.