Schizophrenia

Francesca M. Bosco

Alberto Parola

pp. 267-290

in: Louise Cummings (ed), Research in clinical pragmatics, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

Patients with schizophrenia exhibit a range of pragmatic difficulties which compromise communicative interaction. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of these difficulties and to analyze whether impairments of cognitive factors such as theory of mind (ToM), executive functions and intelligence quotient (IQ) could be helpful in explaining them. First, we provide an overview of the communicative-pragmatic difficulties observed in schizophrenia. We describe how impairment of ToM has been proposed to explain schizophrenic pathology, and the role that such a deficit could play in explaining these patients' pragmatic difficulties. We then describe executive function deficits in schizophrenia and the relationship between these deficits and pragmatic impairments. We consider studies that have examined the interplay between ToM, executive function and other cognitive abilities such as IQ. Finally, we summarize the empirical evidence presented, concluding that the role of ToM in explaining patients' difficulty in comprehending certain pragmatic phenomena still persists when the role of IQ and executive functioning is controlled. However, neither an impairment of ToM nor an impairment of executive function or IQ seems to be able to systematically explain the pragmatic difficulties of patients with schizophrenia. We suggest that other cognitive factors, such as inferential ability, could be considered in future research.