A Longitudinal Study of Semantic Networks in Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Disorders Using the Word Association Task

Abstract

The underpinnings of language deviations in psychotic symptoms (eg, formal thought disorder, delusions) remain unclear. We examined whether the semantic networks underlying word associations are useful predictors of clinical outcomes in psychosis. Fifty-one patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and 51 matched healthy controls generated words in a Cantonese continued word association task. Patterns of word associations were examined using semantic similarity metrics derived from word embeddings (fastText) and the structure of individual semantic networks. A longitudinal design - baseline and 6 months later - enabled investigation of the relationship of changes in semantic ..