The comprehension of idiomatic expressions in schizophrenic patients

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 1032 - 1040
• Main Authors: Schettino, Antonio, Lauro, Leonor Romero, Crippa, Franca, Anselmetti, Simona, Cavallaro, Roberto, Papagno, Costanza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Ambiguity; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cognition; Comprehension; Executive functions; Female; Figurative Language; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Humans; Idioms; Language Patterns; Language Tests; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurological Organization; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Patients; Psycholinguistics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Reaction Time; Reading Comprehension; Reading Processes; Response Time; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Semantics; Sentences; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Verbal Behavior; Visual Media; Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; Young Adult; Schizophrenia; Executive functions; Idioms; Psychosis; Human; Verbal comprehension; Executive function; Language; Cognition; Experimental study; Idiom

Recent fMRI and TMS studies on idiom comprehension have shown that the prefrontal cortex is involved in idiom processing. Since schizophrenic patients exhibit prefrontal structural changes and dysexecutive behavioural deficits, we hypothesised an impairment in idiom comprehension, correlating with p...