Conversation as a window into metarepresentational (dis)abilities in people with schizophrenia : a Relevance Theoretic perspective

Abstract

Schizophrenia, as a "uniquely human disorder", is one of the major mental illnesses (Williamson, 2006, p. 3). It is a complex and heterogeneous condition characterised by a range of psychiatric symptoms which have their onset in early adulthood. Impairments in language and communication are considered one of the central features of the disorder. Disturbances in pragmatic performance are particularly prominent in many people with schizophrenia, yet our understanding of these difficulties is underdeveloped. One influential theory of schizophrenia suggests that the symptoms of schizophrenia can be explained by a single underlying disturbance - an abnormality in metarepresentation. Frith (1992) suggests that an impairment in how people with schizophrenia are able to represent their own goals and intentions, and monitor the intentions of others, is responsible for the symptoms seen, including the pragmatic disturbances. Such an explanation draws on the notion of an impaired 'Theory of Mind' (or mentalizing ability), that is, an impairment in the ability to attribute mental states (such as beliefs and intentions) to other people. Although experimental evidence has demonstrated an associated between impairments in mentalizing and disturbances in performance on pragmatic tasks, there has been limited consideration of conversational data in this regard. If abnormalities in metarepresentational abilities do indeed underlie the communicative disturbances seen in the condition, then these abnormalities should be visible in the conversational discourse of people with the disorder. Frith's model is an influential theory, able to account for the range of symptoms seen in people with schizophrenia, but, it is argued, it lacks the explanatory power and rigour required to apply these notions to the specific pragmatic realm of conversational interaction. Inferential pragmatics and the cognitive science perspective of Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995) can provide the microscope under which conversations can be considered in the context in which they occur, in order to establish if (and how) the participants deploy metarepresentational abilities in producing and interpreting utterances in communication.