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Quantifying Coherence In A Transdiagnostic Sample: A Methodological Investigation Of Computationally-Derived Coherence Using Ambulatory Assessment, Taylor L. Fedechko
Quantifying Coherence In A Transdiagnostic Sample: A Methodological Investigation Of Computationally-Derived Coherence Using Ambulatory Assessment, Taylor L. Fedechko
LSU Master's Theses
Schizophrenia is a clinical diagnosis assigned to individuals that experience positive (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), negative (e.g., blunted affect), and disorganized (e.g., incoherent speech) symptoms. One particularly disabling symptom is incoherence, which is defined as the meaning-based relationship between ideas. This symptom can drastically affect an individual’s quality of life by affecting areas such as social and occupational functioning. Currently, the mechanism behind this symptom is unknown and requires further study. One way to examine incoherence is to understand its level of expression in other clinical populations. With the advent of computationally-derived natural language processing (NLP), coherence can be quantified …
Vocal Expression In Schizophrenia: Examining The Role Of Vocal Accommodation In Clinical Ratings Of Speech, Thanh P. Le
Vocal Expression In Schizophrenia: Examining The Role Of Vocal Accommodation In Clinical Ratings Of Speech, Thanh P. Le
LSU Master's Theses
Diminished vocal expressivity, defined in terms of a diminution in speech production and intonation/emphasis, is a chronic symptom in schizophrenia. On interview-based measures of vocal deficits, clinicians typically rate patients with schizophrenia 4 to 6 SDs below their non-patient peers. However, recent studies utilizing objective computerized measures have failed to observe vocal expressivity deficits that approach this level. It may be that vocal deficits can only be understood within the boundaries of dyadic exchanges during interview-based assessments. Vocal accommodation, or the degree to which vocal characteristics (i.e., mean F0) between interlocutors synchronize over time, has been linked to enhanced social …
A Comparison Of Psychotic Symptoms Recorded In Patient Files Of Persons With A First Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia In 1930 And 1960 Cohorts Drawn From A Large State Hospital, Kristopher Michael Lee Henderson
A Comparison Of Psychotic Symptoms Recorded In Patient Files Of Persons With A First Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia In 1930 And 1960 Cohorts Drawn From A Large State Hospital, Kristopher Michael Lee Henderson
LSU Master's Theses
The growth of mental hospital populations during the 19th and 20th centuries along with the corresponding increase in the number of mental institutions is well documented. The cause of the growth is the subject of considerable debate. One hypothesis is that the growth in hospital population was due, in part, to an increase in the prevalence or incidence of schizophrenia. Another is that diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia changed with time in such a manner that increasing numbers of patients were given this diagnosis. The present study sought to address these issues in two ways: 1) by comparing the number and …
Examining The Role Of Episodic And Semantic Networks In Anhedonia: Applying The Accessibility Model Of Emotional Self-Report To Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Kyle Robert Mitchell
Examining The Role Of Episodic And Semantic Networks In Anhedonia: Applying The Accessibility Model Of Emotional Self-Report To Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Kyle Robert Mitchell
LSU Master's Theses
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit a range of abnormalities in self-reported non-current experience of pleasure, but undisrupted current experience of pleasure. Several researchers have sought to address the mechanism of this deficit, yielding useful models of anhedonia. The accessibility model of emotional self-report suggests that deficits in hedonic response are due to differential activation of, and reliance upon, semantic and episodic memory systems. While this model has been proposed as an explanation of the deficits in hedonic response in schizophrenia, it has not been experimentally validated, and it remains to be seen whether the model will hold across the schizophrenia spectrum. …
Effort-Based Decision-Making In Schizotypy, Jessica Elaina Mcgovern
Effort-Based Decision-Making In Schizotypy, Jessica Elaina Mcgovern
LSU Master's Theses
Avolition/apathy, defined as reduced initiation of or persistence in goal-directed behavior, is a pernicious, core negative symptom of schizophrenia. While deficits in effort-based decision-making have been proposed to underlie negative symptom deficits, it remains unknown whether subjective or objective motivation deficits are evident in individuals with elevated schizotypy, a trait associated with putative latent liability of developing psychosis. Thus, the present study examined whether and how objective and subjective motivation deficits manifest in individuals high (n = 57) versus low (n = 58) in schizotypy traits (based on a median-split of total experience scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire –Brief …
Cognitive Performance As A Predictor Of Functional Capacity In Schizophrenia, Tracey Lauren Auster
Cognitive Performance As A Predictor Of Functional Capacity In Schizophrenia, Tracey Lauren Auster
LSU Master's Theses
Previous literature has demonstrated that persons with schizophrenia suffer from cognitive deficits and struggle with deficits in everyday living skills, two areas of functioning thatare related in some way. Nearly all cognitive domains are affected in schizophrenia, and most of them have been associated with poor functioning. Therefore, a possible link is the existence of an attentional bottleneck where the demands of attentional load and the lack of attentional resources to handle these demands, decreases capacity to carryout everyday living skills. Researchers have suggested the existence of a structural bottleneck that limits individuals’ ability in the use of cognitive resources. …
Abnormal Emotional Experience In Schizophrenia, Dallas A. Callaway
Abnormal Emotional Experience In Schizophrenia, Dallas A. Callaway
LSU Master's Theses
Ambivalence is defined as the state of simultaneously experiencing antithetical emotions towards a single attitude object (Bleuler, 1911/1950). Recent studies have evidenced ambivalence as a prominent aspect of schizophrenia patients’ in-the-moment emotional experiences (Cohen & Minor, 2010; Trémeau et al., 2009). The present study extended this line of work through the use of an experimental mood-induction methodology to explore the amount, frequency, and average duration of univalent positive, negative, and ambivalent emotional episodes within individuals with schizophrenia and those without psychiatric disturbance. The results indicate that, when exposed to a film clip stimulus selected for its documented (Larsen & McGraw, …
The Moderating Effects Of Perceived Intentionality: Exploring The Relationships Between Ideas Of Reference, Paranoia, And Social Anxiety In Schizotypy, Sean Cameron Morrison
The Moderating Effects Of Perceived Intentionality: Exploring The Relationships Between Ideas Of Reference, Paranoia, And Social Anxiety In Schizotypy, Sean Cameron Morrison
LSU Master's Theses
Ideas of reference (IOR), paranoia, and social anxiety are three common symptoms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, which appear to be conceptually related. However, the precise nature of these relationships is unclear. A new measure that assesses perceived intentionality (PI), a social-cognitive bias for perceiving the actions of others during unpleasant social situations as being directed at oneself in an intentionally malicious manner, has provided preliminary evidence for a link between PI and paranoia. The primary aim of this study was to examine the moderating role of PI on the relationships between IOR and paranoia, and between IOR and social anxiety amongst …
Emotion Recognition In Schizotypy, Laura Brown
Emotion Recognition In Schizotypy, Laura Brown
LSU Master's Theses
Deficits in social cognition are repeatedly found in individuals with schizophrenia. Facial emotion recognition is a major aspect of social cognition in which individuals with schizophrenia show consistent deficits. However, many questions about these deficits remain unanswered including whether they occur in individuals with schizotypy—those at high risk for the disorder that do not manifest full pathology. Examining emotion recognition in schizotypy eliminates many of the confounds associated with schizophrenia research such as medication effects, chronic institutionalization, and generalized cognitive deficits, and allows for the examination of whether emotion recognition deficits reflect vulnerability to schizophrenia. Prior research in this population …
Affective Reactivity Of Speech Disturbances In Schizotypy, Kyle Stuart Minor
Affective Reactivity Of Speech Disturbances In Schizotypy, Kyle Stuart Minor
LSU Master's Theses
Speech disturbances (SD) are a stable, pernicious symptom of schizophrenia that increase when negative emotion and/or arousal are elicited. While considerable research has examined SD in patients with schizophrenia, much less is known about individuals at risk for the disorder, who demonstrate schizophrenia-like, or schizotypic, traits. The present study examined SD and speech reactivity to stress, termed affective reactivity (AR), produced during a laboratory procedure in separate groups of controls and individuals with psychometrically identified schizotypy. This project had two primary aims: 1) to examine SD severity across schizotypy symptoms and 2) to examine how SD varies as a function …
Behavior Problems Exhibited In Institutionalized Persons With Intellectual Disabilities And Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Ryan Thorson
Behavior Problems Exhibited In Institutionalized Persons With Intellectual Disabilities And Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Ryan Thorson
LSU Master's Theses
Although our understanding of dual diagnosis has improved in recent years, a deficit exists in our knowledge of how schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) manifest themselves in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). We also know very little about the behavioral problems present with the ID population based on the existence of psychopathology. The present research attempted to extend the literature by comparing behavior problems of individuals with intellectual disability with SSD, any form of psychopathology, and no psychopathology. Utilizing the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI), three areas of problem behaviors were examined (self-injurious behavior, stereotypic behavior, and aggressive/destructive behavior) and a total …