CASPR Research Report 2005-02 COMPUTERIZED ANALYSIS OF SALIENT ITEMS AND DISCOURSE ORGANIZATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PICTURE DESCRIPTIONS

Computer analysis of spoken picture descriptions shows that schizophrenic patients produce descriptions which are less complete and more disorganized than those produced by healthy controls. Completeness was measured by the relative presence of salient items mentioned in the picture. Organization was measured by the number of transitions between regions in the picture. This study also shows that exposure to cannabis can produce more transitions between picture regions. Additionally, this study brings to light a methodological concern, the possible significance of picture selection in picture description tasks. Certain pictures appear to bring out different linguistic features. Index words: Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic discourse, Cannabis, Discourse organization, Saliency, Picture descriptions, Computational psycholinguistics Computerized Analysis of Salient Items and Discourse Organization In Schizophrenic Picture Descriptions