Pragmatics, Theory of Mind and executive functions in schizophrenia: Disentangling the puzzle using machine learning.

Journal: PloS one
PMID:

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Schizophrenia is associated with a severe impairment in the communicative-pragmatic domain. Recent research has tried to disentangle the relationship between communicative impairment and other domains usually impaired in schizophrenia, i.e. Theory of Mind (ToM) and cognitive functions. However, the results are inconclusive and this relationship is still unclear. Machine learning (ML) provides novel opportunities for studying complex relationships among phenomena and representing causality among multiple variables. The present research explored the potential of applying ML, specifically Bayesian network (BNs) analysis, to characterize the relationship between cognitive, ToM and pragmatic abilities in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and to identify the cognitive and pragmatic abilities that are most informative in discriminating between schizophrenia and controls.

Authors

  • Alberto Parola
    Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
  • Rogerio Salvini
    Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
  • Ilaria Gabbatore
    Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
  • Livia Colle
    Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
  • Laura Berardinelli
    Department of Mental Health, A.S.L. "Città di Torino", Turin, Italy.
  • Francesca M Bosco
    Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.