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The lexical-semantic relatedness effect supposes different activation in the semantic memory of related versus unrelated word-pairs. Semantically related pairs are considered to result in a larger spread of activation as the activation of concept nodes is dependent on shared lexical-semantic features of concepts. The increased activation of concepts in the semantic memory in individuals with schizophrenia is found to be, faster spreading and lacking in inhibition in relation to healthy control subjects. The aim of this study was to examine whether the lexical-semantic relatedness effect influences processing in individuals with early course psychosis by utilizing an explicit semantic matching task with 0ms SOA (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony) to analyse the strategy-free automatic spreading activation process. Overall, the patient group had lower accuracy and longer reaction times compared with healthy subjects, as well as better accuracy for related word-pairs and longer reaction times are for unrelated word-pairs. In clinical practice, the determination of language classifiers for early course psychosis could potentially enable the creation of reliable diagnostic markers and instruments for identifying the population with an elevated risk ofdeveloping disorders within a spectrum of schizophrenia, and predicting the course of the disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relative values of syntactic-semantic relationships in the mental lexicon of aphasic patients, which were tested within syntagmatic and paradigmatic networks of lexical relations. Semantic relations, such as synonymy, antonomy, and hyperonymy, as well as collocational and coordinational syntactic-semantic relations, were examined simultaneously. Twenty-five subjects diagnosed with nominal aphasia were tested, as well as a control group of 20 healthy subjects. The control group was matched with the aphasic group in terms of dominant hemisphere, age, sex, and job. A naming test based on semantic context was used in this research. The test was presented orally to subjects. After the examiner had read a sentence, subjects were supposed to finish it with a target word (the word which was, through context, in a syntactic-semantic relationship with the rest of the sentence). Sentences were composed of highly frequently occurring words. The categories used in the test were randomly patterned. The resultant data were analysed according to adequate semantic relations of the answers in the given context, and according to the type of the semantic-syntactic relation in 'wrong' answers. Results of this analysis are interpreted according to current psycholinguistic theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]