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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Self Disorders (SDs) are regarded as the subjective phenotype of Schizophrenia vulnerability. The EASE (Examination of Anomalous Self-Experiences) scale is the most detailed and widely used instrument to investigate SDs, but it requires long administration times and specific training. The IPASE (Inventory of Psychotic-like Anomalous Self-Experiences) scale might be a self-administered instrument of widespread use for an easier SDs investigation.

The present study was aimed at validating the Italian version of IPASE, testing its internal consistency and usability for a first level SDs survey. A secondary objective was to confirm the correlations between IPASE, EASE, main symptom dimensions, subjective bodily experiences, symptoms of schizophrenic autism as well as levels of global functioning.

Fifty patients with Schizophrenia were administered the IPASE scale in its Italian version, the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experiences scale (EASE), the Positive And Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS), the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS) to assess global functioning, the Autism Rating Scale (ARS) and the Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire (ABPq). The internal consistency of IPASE in its Italian version was investigated and the correlations between IPASE, EASE, ABP, ARS, PANSS and SOFAS were explored.

The internal consistency of the Italian version of IPASE was high (α 0.97). The IPASE and EASE total scores were positively correlated with each other, as were many of the conceptually related subdomains of both scales. The IPASE score was negatively correlated with global functioning (SOFAS) and positively correlated with total PANSS scores and with PANSS negative domain. Moreover, the IPASE total score was positively correlated with autism dimension (ARS), while anomalies in subjective experience of the lived body were coherently correlated with higher scores in IPASE “somatization” subdomain.

The IPASE may be an easy instrument with high internal consistency for an initial investigation of SDs. IPASE domains appear to be correlated with the SDs investigated through EASE and with the main symptomatologic dimensions of Schizophrenia, in particular with negative symptoms. IPASE might also be a useful instrument for a first level investigation of subjective experiences concerning intersubjectivity and bodily dimensions.

SDs are confirmed to be a core feature of the schizophrenia psychopathology, with a adverse impact on global functioning.

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Language and conversation are deeply interrelated: language is acquired, structured, practiced in social interactions and linguistic resources (specifically syntactic, prosodic and pragmatic aspects) contribute to finely tuning turn-taking. Nevertheless, most studies focused on verbal aspects of speech in schizophrenia, with scant attention to their relation to conversation, where language is experienced at most.

The present study was aimed at investigating a possible association between language impairment and conversational characteristics in a sample of clinically stable patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (N = 35, ages 18-65).

A spontaneous speech sample was recorded. For the assessment of language skills, the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC) and the Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale (CLANG) were used, while conversational variables were extracted with an innovative method of semi-automatic analysis. The possible associations were investigated through the Pearson Correlation.

Figure 1 represents graphically the correlational matrix between conversational variables and linguistic scale scores. In the heatmap, blue means negative and red positive correlations, the stronger the colour, the larger the correlation magnitude. Moreover, the significant associations are indicated with stars.

The results suggest that in schizophrenia spectrum disorders the disturbances of language, at a syntactic, prosodic and pragmatic level, have significant impact on communicative interaction.

Thus, conversation analysis might be a promising method to quantify objectively communicative impairment with the benefit of representing an ecological assessment, examining the performance of patients in the real situation of language use, which is social interaction.

No significant relationships.

A primary disruption of the bodily self is considered a core feature of schizophrenia patients (SCZ). The “disembodied” self would be underpinned by an inefficient body-related multisensory integration mechanism occurring in the Peripersonal Space (PPS). PPS is a plastic sector of space surrounding our body, whose extent is altered in SCZ. Although PPS represents a malleable interface marking the perceptual border between self and others, no study has investigated the potential alteration of its plasticity in SCZ.

We investigated the PPS extension and its plasticity in SCZ and their potential correlations with the clinical scales.

Thirty SCZ and thirty healthy controls (HC) underwent a multisensory task to estimate PPS boundary before and after a motor training. Patients were also administered the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE).

Data confirm a narrower PPS extent in SCZ than in HC, whereas no differences in PPS expansion was found in the two groups after the motor training (Figure 1). Positive symptoms were associated directly with PPS extent and inversely with PPS plasticity. No associations were found between PPS and EASE domains. Figure1: Graphical representation of PPS expansion in SCZ and HC. Both panels show individual normalized sigmoid fits

The present study suggests a narrower PPS extent and a preserved PPS plasticity in SCZ with respect to HC. Both PPS extent and plasticity are related to the severity of positive symptoms. These results highlight the potential role of rehabilitation interventions in order to improve patients’ weakened body boundary.

No significant relationships.

Patients with schizophrenia show severe difficulties in interpersonal communication, including impairments in conversation skills, like the turn-taking. To our knowledge, very few studies to date have taken into account conversation analysis in order to investigate turn-taking in schizophrenia patients.

To investigate the conversational patterns in schizophrenia patients; to assess possible associations between dialogic features, abnormal subjective experiences and symptom dimensions.

Thirty-six patients with Schizophrenia underwent an interview, subsequently analyzed with an innovative semi-automatic analysis. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was adopted for the investigation of psychopathology and Examination of Anomalous Self Experience (EASE) for Self-Disorders.

Dialogic exchanges are graphically represented in Figure 1. An inverse correlation was found between participant speaking time and PANSS negative symptoms score (r = -0.44, p value < 0.05; Figure 2), whereas no associations were found between conversational variables and PANSS positive or disorganization dimensions. Finally, a positive correlation was found between the EASE item “spazialization of thought” and average pause duration (r = 0.42, p value < 0.05).

The finding of a relationship between negative symptoms and conversational patterns suggest that conversational features in schizophrenia are expression of the “core” negative dimension of the disorder. The association with the phenomenon of thought spatialization seems to suggest that the disturbances of the stream of consciousness impact on natural dialogic interactions. Ultimately, conversation analysis seems a promising tool to study dialogic exchanges of patients with schizophrenia.

No significant relationships.

Recent studies have underlined the importance of considering the form of thoughts, beyond their content, in order to achieve a better phenomenological comprehension of mental states in mood disorders. The subjective experience of thought overactivation is an important feature of mood disorders that could help in identifying, among patients with a depressive episode, those who belong to the bipolar spectrum.

Patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) were compared with matched healthy controls (HC) on a scale that evaluates thought overactivation.

Validate the Italian version of a scale for thought overactivation (i.e. STOQ) in a sample of bipolar patients.

Thirty euthymic BD and 30 HC completed the Subjective Thought Overactivation Questionnaire (STOQ), the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and global functioning (VGF).

The 9-items version of the STOQ has been back translated and its internal consistency in this sample was satisfactory (alpha = .91). Both the brooding subscore of RRS (b-RRS) (r = .706; P < .001) and STOQ (r = .664; P < .001) correlate significantly with depressive symptoms whereas only the first correlate with VGF (r = –.801; P < .001). The two groups did not differed in the b-RRS (HC = 8.41 vs BD = 9.72; P = .21), whereas BD where significantly higher in the STOQ total score (HC = 6.62 vs. BD = 14.9; P = .007).

Our results, although limited by the small sample size, confirm the validity of the STOQ and suggest that this scale could grasp a feature characteristic of BD, independently from their tendency to ruminate. The latter seems to impact more on global functioning.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.