In schizophrenia, there is evidence for anomalies in the extension and plasticity of the peripersonal space (PPS), the portion of space surrounding our body, plastically shaped through motor experiences. An impaired multisensory integration at the PPS level would underpin the disembodiment, a core feature of the disorder linked to subjective perturbations of the sense of self (“Self-disorders”) and of the intersubjective dimension (“schizophrenic autism”).

The present study was aimed at: 1) exploring possible associations between PPS data, psychopathological dimensions, and subjective experiences in schizophrenia; 2) identifying a specific PPS profile in patients with early-onset schizophrenia.

A motor training with a tool was used to assess the PPS size and boundaries demarcation in twenty-seven schizophrenia outpatients. Moreover, they underwent a thorough psychopathological evaluation with the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Examination of Anomalous Self Experience scale (EASE) and the Autism Rating Scale (ARS). Subsequently, the sample was divided into early (EOS) and adult-onset (AOS) subgroups, that were compared with respect to their PPS and psychopathological profiles.

PPS features (size and boundaries demarcation) were associated with PANSS negative score, subjective experiences of existential reorientation (EASE Domain 5 scores) and traits of schizophrenic autism (ARS scores; Fig. 1). PPS parameters (Fig. 2) and ARS scores, but not PANSS and EASE differentiated between early and adult-onset subgroups.

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Our results suggest a link between PPS patterns, negative symptoms, and disturbances of the subjective experience, particularly in the intersubjective domain, in schizophrenia. Moreover, they candidate specific PPS profiles and schizophrenic autism traits as EOS markers.

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The disruption of minimal Self is believed to be a core element of Schizophrenia and intimately connected to a disruption of bodily self, which in turn leads to impairments in intersubjectivity dimension. Motor abnormalities have been associated to Schizophrenia since the early conceptualization of the disorder, as well as inefficient body-related multisensory integration processes are considered nowadays a plausible origin of disembodied Self. In particular, there is evidence for significant abnormalities in Peripersonal Space (PPS) extension in Schizophrenia patients. PPS is the plastic sector of space immediately surrounding our body, whose coherent representation is based on efficient body-related multisensory integration processes. With a specific experimental task based on multisensory integration processing, we estimated PPS size and PPS boundary’s demarcation in 27 Schizophrenia patients, confirming a narrower PPS size and weaker bodily boundary in patients, thus paving the way for a deeper investigation of the mechanisms underlying the disruption of bodily self (Ferroni et al., Schziophr.Bull.2022, 5 1085-1093). We suggest that disembodiment might be responsible for the loss of the immediate linkage between Self and others (“intercorporeality”), so linking the disruption of the corporeal dimension to specific anomalies of intersubjectivity in Schizophrenia patients. Since language is one of the most important instrument through which intersubjectivity unfolds, it is intriguing to hypothesize a connection between language and multi-sensory processing.

Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating possible correlations between patients’ motor impairments in multi-sensory integration processes and their alterations in language and communicative interactions.

Twenty-five outpatients were recruited in an experimental task investigating PPS extension; they were administered the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC) and the Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale (CLANG).

Our data showed significant correlations between TLC and CLANG total scores and PPS size, with narrower PPS size for more severe formal thought disorders and higher language and communication impairments.

Our preliminary results seem to confirm the presence of a link between language impairment and multi-sensory processing, suggesting that bodily and linguistic disorganization may have a common origin which has yet to be explored in depth. Future research is needed to identify linguistic and motor endophenotypic patterns, potentially intertwined with each other, capable of early predicting Schizophrenia development and thus usable as early diagnostic tools.

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Patients with schizophrenia present severe communication difficulties in various linguistic areas. In the last two decades research has invested significant effort in trying to better characterize the linguistic profile of patients with schizophrenia, with the purpose to help and guide diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, speech data could be easily gathered through non-invasive techniques and are therefore seen as particularly promising by clinicians. However, surprisingly very little is known about interactional dialogue management, i.e. turn-taking, in these patients. ‘Schizophrenic autism’, the peculiar intersubjective experience also linked to anomalies in the sense of the self (‘Self-disorders’) presented by these patients, could be at the basis of an unusual turn-taking management.

The objective of the present study was to investigate turn-taking patterns of patients with schizophrenia and to explore their possible associations with psychopathological dimensions and subjective experiences.

We obtained double-channel audio-recordings from interviews with twenty patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and twenty healthy controls (HC). Participants answered general questions to elicit spontaneous dialogues, to improve the ecological validity of the task. The audio files obtained were then analyzed with Praat, a software widely used in experimental phonetics. We subsequently quantified a set of conversational metrics (participant floor occupation, mutual silence, overlap between speakers, speaking turn and pause duration). Patients also underwent a thorough psychopathological and phenomenological evaluation with the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Examination of Anomalous Self Experience scale (EASE) and the Autism Rating Scale (ARS).

Our results show that the SCZ group displayed a reduced participant floor occupation, an increased mutual silence, and shorter speaking turns as compared to the HC. (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). We found significant associations between conversational features and psychopathology (Fig. 3). Two multivariate linear regressions showed that the participant occupation floor and the average speaking turn duration (dependent variables) were negatively related to the severity of negative symptoms and Self-Disorders. Interestingly, Self-Disorders were the best predictors of conversational engagement.

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Our results, although preliminary, suggest the existence of peculiar turn-taking patterns in schizophrenia, linked to negative symptoms and disturbances of the subjective experience, particularly in the Self domain. Our results suggest also how the use of experimental linguistic methodology is applicable to clinical settings and underscores the importance of research projects in this field that are strongly interdisciplinary in both design and conduct.

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Delusions are a key feature of schizophrenia psychopathology. From a phenomenological approach, Jaspers (1913) differentiates between “primary” or true schizophrenic delusions, defined as an unmediated phenomenon that cannot be understood in terms of prior psychological origin or motivation, and “secondary” delusions, understandable from the patient’s mood state or personality. Primary delusions have been considered the hallmark of reality distorsion dimension in schizophrenia, disregarding a possible affective patwhay to delusional belief.

The present study was aimed at elucidating the psychopathological trajectories to delusion in schizophrenia through the investigation of both affective and schizotypal trait dispositions.

Seventy-eight participants affected by schizophrenia were administered the Peters Delusional Inventory (PDI), the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS), the Experience of Shame Scale (ESS), the Referential Thinking Scale (REF), the Magical Ideation Scale (MIS) and the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS).

The severity of delusional ideation (PDI) was positively related to both affective (PANAS positive dimension, ESS) and schizotypal traits (MIS, PAS and REF). Moreover, referential thinking (REF) mediated the relationship between “magical ideation” (MIS) and delusions severity (Fig. 1), whereas experience of shame (ESS) was a moderating factor in the between referential thinking and delusion severity (Fig. 2).

The study findings suggest that in schizophrenia patients, severity of delusions is underpinned by an intertwining of both affective and schizotypal pathways.

No significant relationships.