Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Non-literal understanding and psychosis: Metaphor comprehension in individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Deamer, Felicity; Palmer, Ellen; Vuong, Quoc C.; Ferrier, Nicol; Finkelmeyer, Andreas; Hinzen, Wolfram; Watson, Stuart

Non-literal understanding and psychosis: Metaphor comprehension in individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia Thumbnail


Authors

Ellen Palmer

Quoc C. Vuong

Nicol Ferrier

Andreas Finkelmeyer

Wolfram Hinzen

Stuart Watson



Abstract

Previous studies suggest that understanding of non-literal expressions, and in particular metaphors, can be impaired in people with schizophrenia; although it is not clear why. We explored metaphor comprehension capacity using a novel picture selection paradigm; we compared task performance between people with schizophrenia and healthy comparator subjects and we further examined the relationships between the ability to interpret figurative expressions non-literally and performance on a number of other cognitive tasks. Eye-tracking was used to examine task strategy. We showed that even when IQ, years of education, and capacities for theory of mind and associative learning are factored in as covariates, patients are significantly more likely to interpret metaphorical expressions literally, despite eye-tracking findings suggesting that patients are following the same interpretation strategy as healthy controls. Inhibitory control deficits are likely to be one of multiple factors contributing to the poorer performance of our schizophrenia group on the metaphor trials of the picture selection task.

Citation

Deamer, F., Palmer, E., Vuong, Q. C., Ferrier, N., Finkelmeyer, A., Hinzen, W., & Watson, S. (2019). Non-literal understanding and psychosis: Metaphor comprehension in individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, 18, Article 100159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scog.2019.100159

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 29, 2019
Online Publication Date Aug 26, 2019
Publication Date 2019-12
Deposit Date Sep 21, 2021
Publicly Available Date Sep 22, 2021
Journal Schizophrenia Research: Cognition
Print ISSN 2215-0013
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
Article Number 100159
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scog.2019.100159
Keywords Psychiatry and Mental health; Cognitive Neuroscience
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7816025
Additional Information This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Non-literal understanding and psychosis: Metaphor comprehension in individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia; Journal Title: Schizophrenia Research: Cognition; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scog.2019.100159; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations