Sport Fan Attitudes on Alcohol: Insights from a Survey of Football Supporters in Scotland and England

Availability of alcohol at football matches in the UK is much debated and subject to multiple restrictions, yet there is little understanding of supporters’ attitudes. A cross-sectional survey of football supporters in Scotland and England (n = 1750) was conducted April–June 2019. Most supporters viewed drinking at matches as acceptable (74.4%) and thought alcohol should be available at grounds (76.0%); around two-fifths thought most supporters consumed alcohol before matches (44.1%); but only a quarter (26.6%) thought disorder at matches was due to alcohol. Attitudes varied by supporter characteristics: supporters who were younger, in England, or more regular match-goers were more favourable towards alcohol consumption and availability at matches. We conclude that alcohol regulations in some nations and sports – where restrictions are based on historical disorder – may no longer be appropriate.

Childhood imaginary companion and schizotypy in adolescents

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the role of childhood Imaginary Companion (IC) in schizotypy levels of adolescents within the framework of the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP).Method: Subjects were 96 adolescents (15 to 18 years old) voluntarily participating via either e-questionnaires on a website (N=56) or pen-paper method (N=40). Participants (61 females) were grouped based on the status of their childhood IC (with or without). Schizotypy dimensions scores were compared between these two groups. Thought Problems and Withdrawn/Depressed scores of ASEBA-YSR questionnaire were used as two scales to measure Thought Disorder and Detachment spectra of HiTOP model. Scores of these two spectra were compared between IC and non-IC groups. These two spectra were also correlated with Unusual Experiences (UnEx) and Introvertive Anhedonia (IntAn) dimensions of O-LIFE schizotypy inventory. Data collection was administered using a researcher-made questionnaire for IC status, Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) for schizotypy dimensions, and Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment-Youth Self-Report (ASEBA-YSR) for Thought Disorder and Detachment spectra of HiTOP model.Results: UnEx dimension and overall schizotypy score of IC group were higher than non-IC group. There is positive correlation between UnEx dimension and Thought disorder spectrum.

The Shallow Cognitive Map Hypothesis: A Hippocampal framework for Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia

Memories are not formed in isolation. They are associated and organized into relational knowledge structures that allow coherent thought. Failure to express such coherent thought is a key hallmark of Schizophrenia. Here we explore the hypothesis that thought disorder arises from disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps. In doing so, we combine insights from two key lines of investigation, one concerning the neural signatures of cognitive mapping, and another that seeks to understand lower-level cellular mechanisms of cognition within a dynamical systems framework. Specifically, we propose that multiple distinct pathological pathways converge on the shallowing of Hippocampal attractors, giving rise to disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps and driving thought disorder. We discuss the available evidence at the computational, behavioural, network and cellular levels. We also outline testable predictions from this framework including how it could unify major chemical and psychological theories of schizophrenia and how it can provide a rationale for understanding the aetiology and treatment of the disease.

Progressive changes in descriptive discourse in First Episode of Schizophrenia: A longitudinal computational semantics study

Computational semantics, a branch of computational linguistics, involves automated meaning analysis that relies on how words occur together in natural language. This offers a promising tool to study schizophrenia. At present, we do not know if these word level choices in speech are sensitive to illness stage (i.e. acute untreated vs. stable established state), track cognitive deficits in major domains (e.g. cognitive control, processing speed) and relate to established dimensions of formal thought disorder. Here we study samples of descriptive discourse in patients with untreated first episode of schizophrenia (x̅ 2.8 days of lifetime daily dose exposure) and healthy subjects (246 samples of 1-minute speech; n=82, FES=46, HC=36) using a co-occurrence based vector embedding of words. We obtained six-month follow-up data in a subsample (99 speech samples, n=33, FES=20, HC=13). At baseline, the evidence for higher semantic similarity during descriptive discourse in FES was substantial, compared to null difference ( Bayes Factor =6 for full description; 32 for 10-words window). Moreover, the was a linear increase in semantic similarity with time in FES compared to HC (Bayes Factor= 6). Higher semantic similarity related to lower Stroop performance (accuracy and interference, response time), and was present irrespective of the severity of clinically ascertained thought disorder. Automated analysis of non-intrusive 1-minute speech samples provides a window on cognitive control deficits, role functioning and tracks latent progression in schizophrenia.

Implications for Early Diagnosis and Treatment in Schizophrenia Due to Correlation between Auditory Perceptual Deficits and Cognitive Impairment

It is indicated that auditory perception deficits are present in schizophrenia and related to formal thought disorder. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association of auditory deficits with cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. An experimental group of 50 schizophrenia patients completed a battery of auditory processing evaluation and a neuropsychological battery of tests. Correlations between neuropsychological battery scores and auditory processing scores were examined. Cognitive impairment was correlated with auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia patients. All neuropsychological test scores were significantly correlated with at least one auditory processing test score. Our findings support the coexistence of auditory processing disorder, severe cognitive impairment, and formal thought disorder in a subgroup of schizophrenia patients. This may have important implications in schizophrenia research, as well as in early diagnosis and nonpharmacological treatment of the disorder.

The clinical relevance of formal thought disorder in the early stages of psychosis: results from the PRONIA study

Background Formal thought disorder (FTD) has been associated with more severe illness courses and functional deficits in patients with psychotic disorders. However, it remains unclear whether the presence of FTD characterises a specific subgroup of patients showing more prominent illness severity, neurocognitive and functional impairments. This study aimed to identify stable and generalizable FTD-subgroups of patients with recent-onset psychosis (ROP) by applying a comprehensive data-driven clustering approach and to test the validity of these subgroups by assessing associations between this FTD-related stratification, social and occupational functioning, and neurocognition. Methods 279 patients with ROP were recruited as part of the multi-site European PRONIA study (Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management; www.pronia.eu). Five FTD-related symptoms (conceptual disorganization, poverty of content of speech, difficulty in abstract thinking, increased latency of response and poverty of speech) were assessed with Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Results The results with two patient subgroups showing different levels of FTD were the most stable and generalizable clustering solution (predicted clustering strength value = 0.86). FTD-High subgroup had lower scores in social (pfdr < 0.001) and role (pfdr < 0.001) functioning, as well as worse neurocognitive performance in semantic (pfdr < 0.001) and phonological verbal fluency (pfdr < 0.001), short-term verbal memory (pfdr = 0.002) and abstract thinking (pfdr = 0.010), in comparison to FTD-Low group. Conclusions Clustering techniques allowed us to identify patients with more pronounced FTD showing more severe deficits in functioning and neurocognition, thus suggesting that FTD may be a relevant marker of illness severity in the early psychosis pathway.

Sociodemographic differences in youth alcohol sipping’s nomological network

Background: Previous research has established that certain features of personality and psychopathology (e.g., impulsivity, mood disorder, thought disorder) are associated with an increased likelihood of having sipped alcohol in youth, and substance involvement and problems into adolescence and adulthood. What is less clear from the existing literature is whether well-established risk factors of substance use are consistent across varied sociodemographic factors (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, religious affiliation, income, parental education). Methods: We used a large, community sample of 9- and 10-year-olds (N = 11,872; 53% female) and examined whether various sociodemographic characteristics moderate the associations between sipping behavior and its various well-established correlates (e.g., impulsivity, behavioral inhibition and activation, psychopathology, parenting, and family conflict). Results: There were small mean level differences in sipping across sociodemographic characteristics. Across sociodemographic characteristics, however, sipping was fairly uniformly associated with youth-reported impulsivity, behavioral activation, prodromal psychosis symptoms, mood and externalizing disorder diagnoses, and parenting indices. Effects were sometimes slightly more pronounced among groups for which alcohol consumption is relatively nonnormative: Sipping among female youth was slightly more associated with thought disorder psychopathology than with male youth (D = .07), and was slightly more associated with some aspects of psychopathology and impulsivity for Black youth compared with White and Hispanic youth (Ds were .07 and .09). Conclusions: In broad brush, our findings suggest that the psychosocial correlates of precocious alcohol use are relatively consistent across sociodemographic factors.