Belief Formation Projects
Pragmatic knowledge in schizophrenia
Advisors: Dr. Robyn Langdon (MACCS)
Co-advisors: Professor Stephen Crain (MACCS)
Abnormal language is characteristic of schizophrenia. While some patients with schizophrenia show basic linguistic deficits in syntax or semantics (so-called 'schizoaphasia'), most patients show disturbed communication in the absence of syntactic or semantic deficits. Our hypothesis is that these disturbances in communication are due to impaired pragmatic knowledge. This project investigates how people with schizophrenia use and understand linguistic expressions that are governed by pragmatic norms in ordinary conversational contexts. For example, in some contexts, Mary might say to you "What a fine friend" and mean (sarcastically) that you have let her down badly as a friend. A more basic pragmatic phenomena is that people do not typically use 'or' if the same statement can be made accurately using 'and'. So, if John is eating both an apple and a banana, it might be logical to say John is eating an apple or a banana but it is not pragmatically correct to do so. Children do not master this kind of pragmatic knowledge until school age. We are interested in assessing the competence of people with schizophrenia in using such principles of pragmatics. One of our goals is to see if those aspects of language use that develop last are most compromised in schizophrenia.
Further Readings:
Covington, MA, He, CZ, Brown, C, Naci, L, McClain, JT, Fjordbak, BS, Semple, J, and Brown, J. (2005). Schizophrenia and the structure of language: The linguist's view. Schizophrenia Research, 77, 85-98.
Langdon, R., Davies, M., & Coltheart, M. (2002). Understanding minds and understanding communicated meanings in schizophrenia. Mind & Language, 17(1&2), 68-104.
Insight in schizophrenia
Advisor: Dr. Robyn Langdon (MACCS)
Co-advisor: Professor Max Coltheart (MACCS)
Lack of awareness of illness, also termed poor insight in clinical contexts, refers to a patient's seeming inability to recognize his/her own illness or injury. The condition is particularly common in schizophrenia where it affects an estimated 80-97% of patients. It is also evident that poor insight in patients has a negative impact on treatment compliance and, hence, prognosis. To date, research on the etiology of poor insight has tended to proceed from one of two perspectives. On one view, poor insight reflects motivated denial. This position is supported by evidence that poor insight is associated with escape-avoidance coping styles. On the second view, poor insight reflects cognitive loss. This position is supported by evidence that insight is associated with IQ and neuropsychological function. However, neither of these proposals adequately explains all cases of poor insight. This project proceeds from the hypothesis that poor insight reflects an impairment of the capacity "to see ourselves as others see us". The classic empirical tests of the general capacity to adopt other mental perspectives include the so-called Theory-of-Mind (ToM) tasks. In a ToM task, a participant must generate inferences beyond the objective facts of a situation, in order to demonstrate an awareness that the behaviour of another person is governed by that other's view of the situation. This project examines the relative contributions of ToM impairment, neuropsychological dysfunction and motivational factors to poor insight in schizophrenia.
Further Readings:
Lysaker, P.H., Bryson, G.J., Lancaster, R.S., Evans, J.D., & Bell, M.D. (2002). Insight in schizophrenia: Associations with executive function and coping style. Schizophrenia Research, 59, 41-47.
Langdon, R., Corner, T., McLaren, J., Ward, P.B., & Coltheart, M. 2006. Externalizing and personalizing biases in persecutory delusions: the relationships with poor insight and theory of mind. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(5), 699-713.
Correlating genetic and psychological heterogeneity in Williams Syndrome
Advisor: Dr. Melanie Porter (MACCS)
Co-advisors: Professor Max Coltheart (MACCS), Dr. Suzanne Benson (The Childrenfs Hospital at Westmead)
Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterised by heterogeneous medical, cognitive, psychological and physical characteristics. The aim of this project is to investigate the relationship between genetic abnormalities and psychological impairment in Williams Syndrome. While all individuals with Williams Syndrome display gene abnormalities on the long arm of chromosome 7, we have recently found (in collaboration with Kwok and Schofield from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research) that the genes affected in Williams Syndrome vary from one individual to another. From a psychological perspective, anxiety, obsessions and specific phobias are said to be characteristic of Williams Syndrome, but an expanding cohort of Williams individuals at MACCS show heterogeneous psychological characteristics. Variability in both genetic and psychological characteristics within this cohort of individuals with Williams syndrome provides a unique opportunity to relate gene abnormalities to particular psychological impairments. The aim of this project is to investigate differences in psychological characteristics (such as anxiety, obsessions and specific phobias) in our Williams syndrome cohort via the use of structured psychological interview and assessment. Statistical analyses will be used to correlate psychological data with variable patterns of gene abnormalities amongst this cohort.
Further Readings:
Dykens, E.M. (2000). Anxiety, Fears and Phobias in Persons with Williams Syndrome. Developmental Neuropsychology, 23, 291-316.
Porter, M.A., & Coltheart, M. (2005). Cognitive heterogeneity in Williams Syndrome. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27 (2), 275-306.
Emotion expression in Williams syndrome, Down Syndrome, Autism and Asperger syndrome
Advisor: Dr. Melanie Porter (MACCS)
Co-advisors: Professor Max Coltheart (MACCS), Dr. Judi Homewood (Psychology)
The aim of this project is to explore how accurately people with Williams Syndrome (WS), Down syndrome (DS), Autism (AS) or Asperger syndrome (ASP) display emotions on command and whether they are able to display emotions as accurately as typically developing mental age matched healthy controls. In previous research, adults and children with WS, DS, AS and ASP, as well as mental age matched healthy controls, were asked to produce happy, sad, angry, scared, disgusted and surprised expressions using their face, body and then tone of voice. Responses were recorded using a digital video recorder. The present project will involve further data collection, organization and analysis of individual data files. This will be followed by the design and implementation of an experiment to be conducted on first year university students. These students would perceive the same recordings and judge the emotions that are expressed. The research question is whether first year students are more accurate in judging emotional expressions produced by healthy controls than comparable expressions produced by the clinical groups. It would also be interesting to see whether the accuracy of these judgments varied across the four clinical groups.
Further Readings:
Kasari, C., Freeman, S.F., & Hughes, M.A. (2001). Emotion recognition by
children with Down syndrome. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 106(1),
59-72.
Jones, W., Bellugi, U., Lai, Z., Chiles, M., Reilly, J., Lincoln, A., & Adolphs, R. (2000). Hypersociability in Williams syndrome. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12(3), 30-46.
Investigating correlations between genetic and cognitive heterogeneity in Williams syndrome
Advisor: Dr. Melanie Porter (MACCS)
Co-advisors: Dr. John Kwok (The Garvan Institute of Medical Research), Dr. Robyn Langdon (MACCS)
Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterised by heterogeneous medical, cognitive, psychological and physical characteristics. The aim of this project is to further investigate the relationship between genetic abnormalities and unique cognitive impairments in Williams syndrome. Research at MACCS has indicated cognitive heterogeneity in a group of 30 individuals with Williams Syndrome based on strengths and weaknesses across tests of intellectual and other cognitive and social abilities. Similarly, current genetic studies by MACCS researchers and colleagues indicates extreme variability in genetic abnormalities within Williams Syndrome. We are currently exploring correlations between cognitive and genetic variability in our Williams syndrome cohort. Our current cohort includes 21 individuals with Williams Syndrome from NSW and SA. The aim of the proposed research project is to expand this study to include over 100 individuals with Williams syndrome Australia wide.
Further Readings:
Porter, M.A., & Coltheart, M. (2005). Cognitive heterogeneity in Williams
syndrome. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27 (2), 275-306.
Wu, Y., Sutton, R., Nickerson, E., Lupski, J.R., Potocki, L., Korenberg,
J.R., Greenberg, F., Tassabehji, M., & Shaffer, L. G. (1998). Delineation of
the common critical region in Williams syndrome and clinical correlation of
growth, heart defects, ethnicity, and parental origin. American Journal of
Medical Genetics, 78(1), 82-89.
A cognitive neuropsychological model of social processing: identification and treatment of social processing deficits
Advisor: Dr. Melanie Porter (MACCS)
Co-advisors: Professor Max Coltheart (MACCS), Dr. Ruth Brunsdon (The Childrenfs Hospital at Westmead), Dr. Pamela Joy (The Childrenfs Hospital at Westmead)
The aim of this project is to evaluate a proposed cognitive neuropsychological model of social processing and to design and evaluate assessment tools and intervention programmes relating to specific social processes outlined in the model. There are currently cognitive neuropsychological models for reading, spoken language, object recognition and face perception. These models have been responsible for the successful development of assessment tools and intervention programmes to treat cognitive neuropsychological disorders. A cognitive neuropsychological model of social processing does not currently exist, but would be widely applicable in both research and clinical settings, as would the assessment tools and treatment programmes designed and implemented in this study.
Further Readings:
Tager-Flusberg, H., & Sullivan, K. (2000). A componential view of theory of
mind: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Cognition, 76, 59-89.
Adolphs, R. (1999). Social cognition and the human brain. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 3(12), 469-479.