Interaction emotion-cognition in the study of literal and figurative language in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders : behavioral and electrophysiological studies – ELISE

The aim of this proposal is to investigate disturbances of understanding of "emotional language" in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. By "emotional langage", we mean emotions wich can be drawn from utterances, thanks to affective valence of words or phrases, expression of emotional state or prosody. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share several symptoms, particularly those related to emotional sphere, in such a way that it is frequently asked whether these disorders could be formalized on a continuum. Comparing the cognitivo-emotional functioning of these two kinds of patients should allow indentifying cognitive markers of the psychotic symptom dimension common in both diseases.
On the basis of the abundant literature regarding cognitivo-emotional functioning in schizophrenia and on the more infrequent literature concerning bipolar functioning, we hypothesized that the difficulties in processing emotions, in attributing intentionality and in integrating information for meaning are markers for the psychotic symptom dimension common in both pathologies. To test this hypothesis, we chose to investigate language understanding because it can imply a semantic-emotional processing and because it necessitates integration processes. The integration processes obligatory operate on semantic information, from which it can be added, in ecological situations, prosodic and intentional information. The methodology we propose involves different levels of language, requiring more or less complex integration processes - literal language and figurative language - and different emotional features - affective valence of words and expressions and emotional prosody -.
We plan to conduct behavioral and electrophysiological (event-related potentials) studies. For the later, we will focus on electrophysiological components well known to be implied in language and emotional processing: the N400, the LPC (Late Positive Component) and the LPP (Late Positive Potential). The combination of behavioral and electrophysiological indicators will allow the identification of the neurocognitive mechanisms shared by both schizophrenic and bipolar patients, particularly those who experienced a psychotic episode, in comparison with those of healthy participants. These studies will be conducted on 40 stable schizophrenic patients, 40 euthymic bipolar 1 patients with or without psychotic symptoms, and 80 healthy participants, matched on age and educational achievement level to each pathological group. Different instruments will be used to investigate, in both pathological groups and their controls, different emotional dimensions (anhedonia, alexithymia, positive or negative affectivity, depression, anxiety). Investigating the cognitivo-emotional functioning of patients from a dimensional approach (psychotic symptom dimension) rather than from a categorical approach could impulse a new way of thinking diagnosis or identifying factors of vulnerability and protection for these diseases.