|
 |
August Newsletter | 2024 Issue #3Shared on behalf of Dr. Lena Palaniyappan & the Discourse Executive Committee. By Paulina Dzialoszynski |
|
|
Hello! Please see below the exciting news coming from Discourse in Psychosis collaborators across the globe. |
|
|
 |
|
A note from Montreal: The summer is evaporating fast here in Montreal. Though I wonder if the first drop of snow will fall around Halloween this year, as it usually does in this region. Nevertheless, a good time for all the 339 of us to reflect on some accomplishments and anticipate upcoming events across the consortium.
The Program Planning Committee has another exciting set of webinars starting soon. We are currently inviting ideas from members on satellite meeting at Chicago alongside SIRS 2025. Ping me or Sunny Tang if you have some thoughts on how this should look like – even better if you can Slack it at discourseinpsychosis.slack.com |
|
I am also pleased to announce that Claudio Palominos from Wolfram Hinzen’s group has accepted the role of being Consortium Coordinator. As his role evolves across work groups and various platforms, Paulina and Betsy will continue to assist bringing this newsletter and supporting the steering committee. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We are making steady progress with TalkBank – with 4 initial datasets now being curated (for CHAT format) to be made available shortly. Scroll below for more updates from the Work Groups.
Don’t miss the blog from María Francisca Alonso that raises an important question about multi-person neuroscience for language studies. There is also some good news from her & others at the Accomplishments & Awards section.
When the snow drops eventually appear, I am planning to get cozy with Oli Delgaram-Nejad’s new book “Fought Disorder” (link below). I hope you can get a copy too.
Zoom soon! Lena |
|
|
Discourse MetadatabasePlease see the attached file and add/update to our growing Discourse Metadatabase! Please contact Sunny Tang (stang3@northwell.edu) with any questions. |
|
|
|
Discourse Committees and Work GroupsPlease see the attached document for the Discourse Committees and Work Groups list of members. |
|
|
|
Work Group Updates
Clinical Harmonization Group: As we continue to gather more data from collaborators, we will begin preliminary analysis in August 2024. |
|
|
Discourse ChroniclePlease see the attached PDF of María Francisca Alonso Blog post. |
|
|
|
|
 |
For your convenience, we will keep seminar details up to date on this public google calendar, which you can subscribe to: https://tinyurl.com/3b568arx |
|
|
|
|
Special Issue
We are pleased to announce the Upcoming Special Issue “Language in psychosis: a multidisciplinary approach” in Neuropsychologia. The Special Issue, guest edited by Marta Bosia, Lena Palaniyappan, Benjamin Straube and Lin Wang will be published by Neuropsychologia (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neuropsychologia) in the Language section edited by Valentina Bambini. The focus is on neural underpinnings of language in psychosis. Studies exploring connections between language and brain function, with theoretical and clinical implications, are highly encouraged.
Submission Open Date: 01/09/2024 Final Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30/09/2025
|
|
|
PublicationsAlonso-Sánchez, M., F. (August 2024). Perplexity of utterances in untreated first-episode psychosis: an ultra–high field MRI dynamic causal modelling study of the semantic network. J Psychiatry Neurosci Aug 2024, 49 (4) E252-E262; https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.240031
Delgaram-Nejad, O. (May 2024). Fantasies and Fears: Comparing Psychotic Experiences. Schizophrenia Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbae077
Tang, S., X., et al. (July 2024). Automated, Objective Speech and Language Markers of Longitudinal Changes in Psychosis Symptoms. medRxiv 2024.07.19.24310718. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.19.24310718
Yuchao Jiang et al. (June 2024). Neuroimaging epicenters as potential sites of onset of the neuroanatomical pathology in schizophrenia. Sci. Adv.10,eadk6063(2024). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk6063
|
|
|
Opportunities
PhD opportunity in Pavia, Italy:
A full-time PhD position within the program in “Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics (TEL)” (University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Italy) will open soon. The PhD student will be supervised by Prof. Valentina Bambini. People interested in pursuing a PhD centered on the topics of language in psychosis, with a focus on pragmatics and extending also to neuropragmatics, could get in contact with Valentina Bambini (valentina.bambini@iusspavia.it). The programme duration is 3 years. Approximate gross salary: €16.243 (per year). Further information is available at the following link: https://www.iusspavia.it/en/education/doctoral-programmes/theoretical-and-experimental-linguistics |
|
|
|
Accomplishments & AwardsCongratulations to Dr. Alban Voppel! He has been notified of his selection for a 2024 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant. The project, titled “Targeting Speech Production in Schizophrenia with Natural Language Processing, Neuroimaging, and Neuromodulation,” aims to explore the relationship between shifting language markers and brain states. Research on negative speech symptoms—such as alogia and poverty of speech—has been limited. This project will extract natural language processing markers related to these symptoms and connect them to brain activity changes, employing a pre-post design.
Congratulations to Dr. Maria Alonso on her new position as Director of the Centro de Investigación del Desarrollo en Cognición y Lenguaje in Viña del Mar, Chile.
Grant funding News Canadian Institutes of Health Research has awarded Dr. Lena Palaniyappan and Professor Amélie M. Achim and collaborative team, funding for 5 years for the project titled: Predicting Psychotic Relapse: “More than Words” (MOTS+). This funding will support three Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP) Clinics. These clinics are community focused mental health programs located in Ontario and Quebec. The MOTS+ study is a multi-site project that uses within-person speech changes as a marker to time relapses. |
|
|
Additional Media
Book: Fought Disorder by Oli Delgaram-NejadFought Disorder tells Oli Delgaram-Nejad’s story of his first psychotic episode, which involved four weeks in psychiatric intensive care. He spent most of that time unmedicated, believing he was on a reality TV show designed by Derren Brown. The book places special emphasis on formal thought disorder, symptoms that affect language, communication, and thought.
Connect with Oli Delgaram via email or X https://x.com/OliNejad |
|
|
|
Discourse Consortium on X
Connect and follow the Discourse Consortium via X (@discourseinpsy)
Claudio Palominos and Tuğçe Çabuk have graciously taken over the X media in order to promote awareness of the Discourse Consortium and highlight specific research groups and their projects, providing contact information for direct engagement.
Please use the hashtags #psychosis and #discourseconsortium when sharing your posts! |
|
|
Tell Us About Your Success!
We need to continually track total grant amounts that is generated through the existence of the Discourse consortium – this is important in order to make impact statements about the network. So, please remember to reach out to Paulina pdzialos@uwo.ca or Betsy Betsy.Schaefer@lhsc.on.ca with any new grant funds you have received, that reference our network and/or protocol in funding applications |
|
|
Discourse Protocol
This task administration protocol is intended for producing speech samples to be compiled into a multilingual, benchmark dataset to study language in psychosis. We currently have English, Spanish, German, French, Croatian, Turkish, Hindi, Italian, Serbian, Tamil, Mandarin Chinese, Czech, Dutch, and Portuguese versions of the protocol.
We are working on adding protocol versions in Swedish, Russian, and Arabic as well (this is not uploaded yet but drop a line if you want to access them when ready).
Please email Dr. Maria Alonso for the latest versions. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
