1995 — 1996 |
Berenbaum, Howard |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Cognitive/Neurolinguistic Examination of Alogia @ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Among schizophrenics, a reduction in verbal productivity is stable and is associated with poor prognosis and increased severity of disturbance. The goal of the proposed project is to utilize knowledge and methodological approaches developed in the related fields of psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, neurolinguistics, and linguistic aphasiology to test hypotheses concerning the etiology of alogia. The specific aims of the proposed project are to examine whether alogia is associated with: (1) frontal lobe dysfunction; (2) a word finding deficit similar to that seen in anomic aphasia; (3) a deficit in verbal planning ability similar to that seen in dynamic aphasia; and (4) an information processing disturbance. In addition, the proposed project would examine whether the factors that are associated with alogia among schizophrenics are also associated with alogia among individuals with depressive disturbances. One hundred hospitalized psychiatric patients (50 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, and 50 individuals with depressive disturbances) will be audiotaped while they answer a series of open-ended questions. These interviews will be used to measure verbal productivity, syntactic complexity, response latencies, within-clause pauses, and between-clause pauses. Subjects will also complete a series of tests designed to measure the functioning of several different brain regions, word finding ability, verbal and non-verbal planning abilities, and information processing abilities. The proposed study will not only improve our understanding of alogia, it will also enhance our understanding of the neurological and cognitive disturbances that underlie the development and chronic course of schizophrenia.
|
1 |
2001 |
Berenbaum, Howard |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Pathways to Distured Emotions, Perceptions and Beliefs @ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project has four major goals: (1) to examine in a large representative community sample the strength of the association between a history of psychological trauma and elevated levels of peculiar perceptions and beliefs, assessed by measuring symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder; (2) to examine whether the effects of neurodevelopmental factors and psychological trauma on vulnerability to peculiar perceptions and beliefs are additive or interactive; (3) to examine the relation between peculiar perceptions and beliefs and disturbances in emotional awareness and the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information; and (4) to examine psychological mechanisms (disturbances in emotional awareness and the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information, dissociation, absorption, and an intuitive-experiential thinking style) that may mediate the links between distal vulnerability factors, such as psychological trauma and neurodevelopmental factors, and the later development of elevated levels of peculiar perceptions and beliefs. The association between trauma history and schizotypal personality disorder will be examined in a telephone survey of 1500 individuals randomly selected from the community. The remaining goals will be addressed by conducting intensive laboratory/interview assessments of 300 individuals, recruited via telephone screening and newspaper advertising, intentionally oversampling individuals with high levels of schizotypal symptoms. The laboratory/interview assessments will include the assessment of minor physical anomalies, handedness, dermatoglyphic asymmetries, Cluster A personality disorders, childhood maltreatment as well as other traumas, and questionnaire and behavioral measures of the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information. The proposed project will improve our understanding of the nature and etiology of schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid personality disorders. The proposed project will also provide clues concerning which psychological mechanisms might contribute to peculiar perceptions and beliefs across the psychiatric spectrum, such as the hallucinations and delusions exhibited by individuals with psychotic and mood disorders.
|
1 |
2002 — 2004 |
Berenbaum, Howard |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Pathways to Distured Emotions, Perceptions &Beliefs @ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project has four major goals: (1) to examine in a large representative community sample the strength of the association between a history of psychological trauma and elevated levels of peculiar perceptions and beliefs, assessed by measuring symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder; (2) to examine whether the effects of neurodevelopmental factors and psychological trauma on vulnerability to peculiar perceptions and beliefs are additive or interactive; (3) to examine the relation between peculiar perceptions and beliefs and disturbances in emotional awareness and the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information; and (4) to examine psychological mechanisms (disturbances in emotional awareness and the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information, dissociation, absorption, and an intuitive-experiential thinking style) that may mediate the links between distal vulnerability factors, such as psychological trauma and neurodevelopmental factors, and the later development of elevated levels of peculiar perceptions and beliefs. The association between trauma history and schizotypal personality disorder will be examined in a telephone survey of 1500 individuals randomly selected from the community. The remaining goals will be addressed by conducting intensive laboratory/interview assessments of 300 individuals, recruited via telephone screening and newspaper advertising, intentionally oversampling individuals with high levels of schizotypal symptoms. The laboratory/interview assessments will include the assessment of minor physical anomalies, handedness, dermatoglyphic asymmetries, Cluster A personality disorders, childhood maltreatment as well as other traumas, and questionnaire and behavioral measures of the processing and utilization of emotionally-valenced information. The proposed project will improve our understanding of the nature and etiology of schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid personality disorders. The proposed project will also provide clues concerning which psychological mechanisms might contribute to peculiar perceptions and beliefs across the psychiatric spectrum, such as the hallucinations and delusions exhibited by individuals with psychotic and mood disorders.
|
1 |