Tag Archives: cognition

“The tangled roots of inner speech, voices and delusions” by Cherise Rosen et al.

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The tangled roots of inner speech, voices and delusions

Cherise Rosen, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Kayla A. Chase, Clara S. Humpston, Jennifer K. Melbourne, Leah Kling & Rajiv P. Sharma

Highlights

  • This exploratory study examined the role of inner speech in the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) and delusions.
  • Greater levels of dialogic inner speech were found in participants with psychosis compared to non-clinical controls.
  • Greater levels of dialogic inner speech reported better relations both with and between their voices.
  • Qualitative narratives also highlighted the tangled dynamics of inner speech, AVHs and delusions.
  • These results underscores the need for phenomenological and clinical research into the potential interrelatedness of inner speech, voices and delusions, and the complexities involved in disentangling this network of inner experience.

Abstract

The role of inner speech in the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and delusions remains unclear. This exploratory study tested for differences in inner speech (assessed via self-report questionnaire) between 89 participants with psychosis and 37 non-clinical controls. We also tested for associations of inner speech with, i) state/trait AVH, ii) AVH-severity; iii) patients’ relations with their voices, and; iv) delusion-severity. Persons with psychosis had greater levels of dialogic inner speech, other people in inner speech, and evaluative/motivational inner speech than non-clinical controls. Those with state, but not trait AVH had greater levels of dialogic and evaluative/motivational inner speech than non-clinical controls. After controlling for delusions, there was a positive relation between AVH-severity and both evaluative/motivational inner speech and other people in inner speech. Participants with greater levels of dialogic inner speech reported better relations both with and between their voices. There was no association between delusion-severity and inner speech. These results highlight the importance of better understanding relations between inner speech and AVH, provide avenues for future research, and underscore the need for research into the interrelatedness of inner speech, voices and delusions, and the complexities involved in disentangling these experiences.

http://www.psy-journal.com/article/S0165-1781%2817%2931563-9/abstract

“Rate of speech and emotional-cognitive regulation in the psychotherapeutic process: a pilot study” by Marco Tonti and Omar Gelo

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Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between a client’s rate of speech (ROS) and emotional-cognitive regulation during a psychotherapysession. The ROS was measured in words per second on the timed transcript of a single session of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Emotional-cognitive regulation was assessed using the therapeutic cycles model on emotional tone (ET), abstraction (AB), and their combination in emotio-abstraction patterns (EAPs). The results were mostly consistent with our hypotheses and showed that: i) the ROS negatively correlated with the conjoined ET and AB; and ii) the ROS in the connecting EAP (high ET and high AB) was significantly lower than in other EAPs. The results support the hypothesis that a significant reduction in the client’s ROS may be a reliable marker of in-session change processes. Clinical implications and future developments are discussed.

Link to original article

Dr Vito Evola

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Vito Evola

Affiliation: Universidade Nova de Lisboa

As a researcher, I’m responsible for the Multimodal Communication/Linguistics section of the BlackBox project, investigating performing arts from cognitive and ethnographic perspectives.

Previously, I did post-doctoral research on cognitive semiotics, metaphors, metonymy, gestures and epistemic stance at Humtec – RWTH Aachen University (Germany) with the Natural Media – Gesture lab, teaching Master’s courses in Media Informatics on “Media, Culture and Mind” and “Semiotics and Embodied Cognition in the Digital Age” from 2009-2014. I held a one-year FIIRD fellowship granted by the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue for research on multimodal cognitive semiotics in relation to religious and spiritual thought at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). I was also lecturer at the University of Palermo (Italy), where my doctoral training began, which was also conducted in the USA at the University of California-Berkeley (Linguistics) as visiting researcher and at Case Western Reserve (Cognitive Science) as visiting scholar.

Broadly, my research lies in the intersection of language, culture and cognition, focusing on multimodal cognitive semiotics and symbolic systems (e.g. religions and religious discourse; performing arts and literature) and the socio-anthropological aspects of conceptual blends. One special research interest of mine is on multimodal metaphors (speech, gesture, cultural artifacts) and how these might be applied in other domains such as in psychotherapy and forensic interviews in order to better understand the epistemic stance of the speaker and how it’s represented in “natural media” (voice, gestures, posture, gaze, etc.). In this sense, I adhere to an embodied and embedded view of the human mind following contemporary cognitive science.

Within the BlackBox research framework, I’m interested in investigating what dancers and other performers might be able to inform science about the relationship between body and cognition and creative processes in general.

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