Navegando por Autor "Mota, Natália Bezerra"

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Análise de grafos aplicada a relatos de sonhos: ferramenta diagnóstica objetiva e diferencial para psicose esquizofrênica e bipolar
(Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 2013-07-26) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da; ; http://lattes.cnpq.br/9400915429521069; ; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0218733015647416; Malloy-diniz, Leandro Fernandes; ; http://lattes.cnpq.br/1906784092048967; Souza, Sandro José de; ; http://lattes.cnpq.br/8479967495464590
Apesar do esforço e de alguns avanços da comunidade científica na busca por biomarcadores para as principais síndromes psiquiátricas, até o momento os resultados não foram consistentes o suficiente para serem reproduzidos em larga escala. A maior parte das observações em psiquiatria está baseada na descrição verbal de estados internos e a quantificação acurada desses fenômenos ainda é necessária. Compreendendo a relação entre palavras no discurso como um sistema complexo, propomos sua representação por grafos de sequência de palavras, a fim de observar padrões característicos em grafos produzidos por sujeitos psicóticos portadores de Esquizofrenia, de Transtorno Bipolar do Humor do tipo I ou sujeitos não psicóticos, buscando também por relações entre atributos de grafos e sintomas medidos por escalas psicométricas PANSS e BPRS. No primeiro capítulo, utilizando 24 sujeitos (8 sujeitos por grupo), representando como nó cada lexema (sujeito, verbo, objeto) e arestas direcionadas indicando a sequência desses, foi possível fazer uma classificação entre esquizofrenia e bipolaridade com mais de 90% de sensibilidade e especificidade, maior acurácia do que ao utilizar escalas psicométricas (60% sensibilidade e especificidade), não sendo encontrada qualquer correlação entre atributos de grafo e sintomas. Essa primeira etapa apresentava limitações em relação ao tamanho amostral, automatização do método e controle da diferença de verbosidade entre os sujeitos, além de apenas considerar um único assunto para produção do relato (relatos de sonho). Para isso coletamos relatos de sonho e de vigília em 20 sujeitos de cada grupo. Desenvolvemos um software que representa relatos transcritos como grafos onde os nós são as palavras e as arestas são a sequência temporal entre estas (ligação entre palavras sucessivas). Foi possível ainda fixar o número total de palavras para fazer um grafo, controlando melhor a diferença de verbosidade. Após a representação dos relatos por grafos, calculamos 14 atributos, sendo estes características gerais (total de nós e arestas), características de recorrência (arestas paralelas e repetidas ou ciclos de um, dois e três nós), características de conectividade (total de nós em maiores componentes conectados ou fortemente conectados, e grau médio), e características globais de rede como densidade, distâncias (diâmetro e menor caminho médio) e coeficiente de agrupamento ou clustering. Encontramos, de maneira consistente entre relatos de diferentes tamanhos, que sujeitos portadores de esquizofrenia geraram grafos sobre sonho e vigília com menos conectividade (menos arestas entre nós e menores componentes conectados) que grupo bipolar e controle, sendo esses atributos correlacionados negativamente com sintomas negativistas e cognitivos medidos pelas escalas psicométricas. Apenas grafos sobre sonho diferenciaram bipolares de controles (os primeiros com menos nós e menores componentes conectados), sendo que controles geraram grafos sobre sonho mais conectados que sobre vigília, enquanto bipolares geraram grafos sobre sonho com mais recorrência, maior densidade e clustering, além de menores distâncias que grafos sobre vigília. O grupo esquizofrenia não mostrou qualquer diferença entre grafos sobre sonho ou vigília. Foi possível a classificação automática dos grupos usando os atributos de grafos, sendo essa calssificação melhor que escalas psicométricas para diferenciar grupo Esquizofrenia do grupo Bipolar (área abaixo da curva ROC (AUC): Grafos: 0.801, Escalas: 0.376). Quando utilizados adicionalmente às escalas houve ganho importante na qualidade classificatória, atingindo padrões ótimos para diagnóstico de Esquizofrenia (AUC = 1, 100% sensibilidade e especificidade). Juntos, os resultados mostram que a análise de grafos aplicada ao discurso pode ajudar no diagnóstico clínico como método promissor, simples e acurado, sendo essas características correlacionadas com sintomas negativos e cognitivos. O método pode ser especialmente útil para pesquisa de biomarcadores de transtornos psiquiátricos. Pode nos ajudar a compreender os substratos neurais de mecanismos tais como a empatia, utilizados em comportamentos complexos como relações interpessoais. Os dados apontam também para noção de que, quanto mais introspectivo o relato, maior a influência de processos mentais patológicos ao discurso. A noção freudiana de que os sonhos são o caminho real para o inconsciente tem portanto utilidade clínica
Análise quantitativa do relato dos efeitos agudos da ayahuasca em voluntários saudáveis
(Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 2021-04-16) Xavier, Júlia da Silva; Araujo, Draulio Barros de; Fontes, Fernanda Palhano Xavier de; Fontes, Fernanda Palhano Xavier de; Mota, Natália Bezerra
Uma das principais formas de acessar informações sobre o estado alterado de consciência com a utilização de psicodélicos, as ferramentas automatizadas da fala vêm ganhando notável importância. Tais ferramentas contribuem para resultados mais precisos e efetivos. Nesse estudo, foram analisados os relatos de experiência, com ayahuasca ou placebo, de 40 voluntários saudáveis através do uso de ferramentas automatizadas da fala e correlacionados com medidas da Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS). Os resultados mostraram diferenças significativas no conteúdo semântico dos discursos quando comparados os grupos ayahuasca e placebo. A análise mostrou aspectos notáveis no comportamento dos indivíduos considerando estados diferentes da consciência (com utilização de substância alucinógena pela ayahuasca ou com placebo) e indicam uma maior proporção de conteúdo afetivo para o grupo ayahuasca, enquanto que mostram maior conteúdo relacionado com sensações físicas para indivíduos do grupo placebo. Estes resultados corroboram com a permanência e intensificação da adoção de ferramentas automatizadas da fala indicativo de acesso a informações mais confiáveis e seguras com a utilização de psicoativos.
Atividade onírica, sono e desempenho em exame nacional
(Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 2024-12-11) Barros, Priscilla Kelly da Silva; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0649912135067700; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7218145997374638; Beijamini, Felipe; Weissheimer, Janaina; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6318-4906; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7345837860360864; Miguel, Mário André Leocádio; Mota, Natália Bezerra
A elaboração do enredo onírico resulta da integração de múltiplos fragmentos de memória, que são resgatados ao despertar. A Teoria da simulação de ameaça sugere que os sonhos funcionam como ensaios para situações desafiadoras, enquanto outra abordagem destaca sua função na regulação emocional. Durante o sono REM, ocorrem modulações nos circuitos neurais ligadas à expressão gênica induzida por experiências vividas na vigília, favorecendo a consolidação da memória. Esse estágio também é caracterizado por sonhos mais complexos em estrutura e narrativa. Na adolescência, o atraso de fase e a maior propensão à vespertinidade podem gerar desalinhamentos entre os ritmos biológicos e as exigências escolares e sociais, impactando o desempenho acadêmico. Este estudo investigou a relação entre sono, sonhos, estados de humor, impacto da pandemia da Covid-19 e desempenho em um exame nacional, com base em dados de 631 participantes. Adicionalmente, um subgrupo de 25 participantes utilizou actímetros para monitorar os padrões de atividade-repouso durante o período do exame. Os relatos de sonhos foram coletados e analisados quanto à frequência, valência emocional e conteúdo. A análise dos dados envolveu procedimentos estatísticos descritivos e inferenciais, incluindo análise de variância com testes post-hoc, modelos lineares generalizados (GLM) e classificador baseado em modelo de processamento de linguagem natural (PLN). Além disso, foi realizada uma análise hierárquica por clusters para identificar padrões de associação entre variáveis relacionadas ao sono, sonhos, estados de humor e desempenho no exame. Os resultados apontaram uma predominância de sonhos negativos antes do primeiro dia do exame, possivelmente refletindo o papel dos sonhos na regulação emocional em contextos de alta relevância para o sonhador. Além disso, o conteúdo onírico observado fornece suporte à teoria da simulação de ameaça. Observou-se também que a pior qualidade do sono e a alta frequência de sonhos ruins no último mês foram preditores significativos do desempenho no exame, juntamente com o impacto da pandemia na rotina de sono. O estudo ressalta a importância dos sonhos não apenas como fenômenos oníricos, mas também como indicadores relevantes para intervenções voltadas à melhoria da qualidade do sono e da regulação emocional em jovens, especialmente em contextos de alta demanda cognitiva, como exames seletivos. Esses achados ampliam a compreensão da interação entre padrões de sono, conteúdo onírico, estados de humor e desempenho acadêmico.
Comparação entre sonhos e psicose: do processamento de memórias aos déficits cognitivos
(2012-07) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
O reconhecimento das semelhanças entre os fenômenos oníricos e psicóticos infl uenciou crucialmente os primórdios da psiquiatria. O interesse clínico pelos sonhos arrefeceu a partir das descobertas do sono REM e dos antipsicóticos. Enquanto a primeira disseminou a ideia de que os sonhos são um mero epifenômeno do sono REM, a segunda reduziu a psicose à ação de neurotransmissores. Evidências recentes, entretanto, indicam a necessidade de reexaminar a relação entre sonho e psicose. Pesquisamos de artigos na base de dados Pubmed, com as palavras “schizophrenia”, “dream”, “electrophysiology”, “cognitive defi cit”, “sleep” e “memory”. Foi possível identifi car 54 artigos sobre os mecanismos neurofi siológicos da psicose e suas relações com défi cits cognitivos e o papel do sono na formação de memórias. São encontradas semelhanças anatômicas, neuroquímicas, eletrofi siológicas e cognitivas entre o sonho e o estado psicótico, evidenciando mecanismos biológicos comuns aos dois fenômenos. Concluímos que mecanismos neurais responsáveis pelo fenômeno onírico são acionados no curso de doenças psicóticas, provocando sintomas semelhantes aos sonhos durante os delírios e alucinações que caracterizam os surtos. O papel do sono na memória pode contribuir para explicar os prejuízos cognitivos da psicose.
Dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic: Computational assessment of dream reports reveals mental suffering related to fear of contagion
(Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2020-11-30) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Weissheimer, Janaina; Silva, Marina Tatiane Ribeiro da; Paiva, Mizziara Marlen Matias de; Souza, Juliana Avila de; Simabucuru, Gabriela Veltrini; Chaves, Monica de Freitas Frias; Cecchi, Lucas; Oliveira, Jaime Bruno Cirne de; Cecchi, Guillermo; Nevins, Cilene Aparecida Nunes Rodrigues; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
The current global threat brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread social isolation, posing new challenges in dealing with metal suffering related to social distancing, and in quickly learning new social habits intended to prevent contagion. Neuroscience and psychology agree that dreaming helps people to cope with negative emotions and to learn from experience, but can dreaming effectively reveal mental suffering and changes in social behavior? To address this question, we applied natural language processing tools to study 239 dream reports by 67 individuals, made either before the Covid-19 outbreak or during the months of March and April, 2020, when lockdown was imposed in Brazil following the WHO's declaration of the pandemic. Pandemic dreams showed a higher proportion of anger and sadness words, and higher average semantic similarities to the terms "contamination" and "cleanness". These features seem to be associated with mental suffering linked to social isolation, as they explained 40% of the variance in the PANSS negative subscale related to socialization (p = 0.0088). These results corroborate the hypothesis that pandemic dreams reflect mental suffering, fear of contagion, and important changes in daily habits that directly impact socialization
Grammatical impairment in schizophrenia: An exploratory study of the pronominal and sentential domains
(Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2023-09) Chaves, Monica de Freitas Frias; Rodrigues, Cilene; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe mental disorder associated with a variety of linguistic deficits, and recently it has been suggested that these deficits are caused by an underlying impairment in the ability to build complex syntactic structures and complex semantic relations. Aiming at contributing to determining the specific linguistic profile of SZ, we investigated the usage of pronominal subjects and sentence types in two corpora of oral dream and waking reports produced by speakers with SZ and participants without SZ (NSZ), both native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. Narratives of 40 adult participants (20 SZ, and 20 NSZ–sample 1), and narratives of 31 teenage participants (11 SZ undergoing first psychotic episode, and 20 NSZ–sample 2) were annotated and statistically analyzed. Overall, narratives of speakers with SZ presented significantly higher rates of matrix sentences, null pronouns—particularly null 3Person referential pronouns—and lower rates of non-anomalous truncated sentences. The high rate of matrix sentences correlated significantly with the total PANSS scores, suggesting an association between the overuse of simple sentences and SZ symptoms in general. In contrast, the high rate of null pronouns correlated significantly with positive PANSS scores, suggesting an association between the overuse of null pronominal forms and the positive symptoms of SZ. Finally, a cross-group analysis between samples 1 and 2 indicated a higher degree of grammatical impairment in speakers with multiple psychotic episodes. Altogether, the results strengthen the notion that deficits at the pronominal and sentential levels constitute a cross-cultural linguistic marker of SZ
Graph theory applied to speech: insights on cognitive deficit diagnosis and dream research
(2018) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
In the past ten years, graph theory has been widely employed in the study of natural and technological phenomena. The representation of the relationships among the units of a network allow for a quantitative analysis of its overall structure, beyond what can be understood by considering only a few units. Here we discuss the application of graph theory to psychiatric diagnosis of psychoses and dementias. The aim is to quantify the flow of thoughts of psychiatric patients, as expressed by verbal reports of dream or waking events. This flow of thoughts is hard to measure but is at the roots of psychiatry as well as psychoanalysis. To this end, speech graphs were initially designed with nodes representing lexemes and edges representing the temporal sequence between consecutive words, leading to directed multigraphs. In a subsequent study, individual words were considered as nodes and their temporal sequence as edges; this simplification allowed for the automatization of the process, effected by the free software Speech Graphs. Using this approach, one can calculate local and global attributes that characterize the network structure, such as the total number of nodes and edges, the number of nodes present in the largest connected and the largest strongly connected components, measures of recurrence such as loops of 1, 2, and 3 nodes, parallel and repeated edges, and global measures such as the average degree, density, diameter, average shortest path, and clustering coefficient. Using these network attributes we were able to automatically sort schizophrenia and bipolar patients undergoing psychosis, and also to separate these psychotic patients from subjects without psychosis, with more than 90% sensitivity and specificity. In addition to the use of the method for strictly clinical purposes, we found that differences in the content of the verbal reports correspond to structural differences at the graph level. When reporting a dream, healthy subjects without psychosis and psychotic subjects with bipolar disorder produced more complex graphs than when reporting waking activities of the previous day; this difference was not observed in psychotic subjects with schizophrenia, which produced equally poor reports irrespective of the content. As a consequence, graphs of dream reports were more efficient for the differential diagnosis of psychosis than graphs of daily reports. Based on these results we can conclude that graphs from dream reports are more informative about mental states, echoing the psychoanalytic notion that dreams are a privileged window into thought.
Imagetic and affective measures of memory reverberation diverge at sleep onset in association with theta rhythm
(Elsevier BV, 2022-10) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Soares, Ernesto Saias; Altszyler, Edgar; Sánchez-Gendriz, Ignacio; Muto, Vincenzo; Heib, Dominik; Slezak, Diego F.; Sigman, Mariano; Copelli, Mauro; Schabus, Manuel; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
The 'day residue' - the presence of waking memories into dreams - is a century-old concept that remains controversial in neuroscience. Even at the psychological level, it remains unclear how waking imagery cedes into dreams. Are visual and affective residues enhanced, modified, or erased at sleep onset? Are they linked, or dissociated? What are the neural correlates of these transformations? To address these questions we combined quantitative semantics, sleep EEG markers, visual stimulation, and multiple awakenings to investigate visual and affect residues in hypnagogic imagery at sleep onset. Healthy adults were repeatedly stimulated with an affective image, allowed to sleep and awoken seconds to minutes later, during waking (WK), N1 or N2 sleep stages. 'Image Residue' was objectively defined as the formal semantic similarity between oral reports describing the last image visualized before closing the eyes ('ground'), and oral reports of subsequent visual imagery ('hypnagogic imagery). Similarly, 'Affect Residue' measured the proximity of affective valences between 'ground' and 'hypnagogic imagery'. We then compared these grounded measures of two distinct aspects of the 'day residue', calculated within participants, to randomly generated values calculated across participants. The results show that Image Residue persisted throughout the transition to sleep, increasing during N1 in proportion to the time spent in this stage. In contrast, the Affect Residue was gradually neutralized as sleep progressed, decreasing in proportion to the time spent in N1 and reaching a minimum during N2. EEG power in the theta band (4.5-6.5 Hz) was inversely correlated with the Image Residue during N1. The results show that the visual and affective aspects of the 'day residue' in hypnagogic imagery diverge at sleep onset, possibly decoupling visual contents from strong negative emotions, in association with increased theta rhythm
Low-dose LSD and the stream of thought: Increased Discontinuity of Mind, Deep Thoughts and abstract flow
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-10-28) Wießner, Isabel; Falchi, Marcelo; Fontes, Fernanda Palhano Xavier de; Maia, Lucas Oliveira; Feilding, Amanda; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Araujo, Draulio Barros de; Tófoli, Luís Fernando
Rationale: Stream of thought describes the nature of the mind when it is freely roaming, a mental state that is continuous and highly dynamic as in mind-wandering or free association. Classic serotonergic psychedelics are known to profoundly impact perception, cognition and language, yet their influence on the stream of thought remains largely unexplored. Objective: To elucidate the effects of LSD on the stream of thought. Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 24 healthy participants received 50 μg lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or inactive placebo. Mind-wandering was measured by the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire (ARSQ), free association by the Forward Flow Task (FFT) for three seed word types (animals, objects, abstract words). ARSQ and FFT were assessed at +0 h, +2 h, +4 h, +6 h, +8 h and +24 h after drug administration, respectively. Results: LSD, compared to placebo, induced different facets of mind-wandering we conceptualized as “chaos” (Discontinuity of Mind, decreased Sleepiness, Planning, Thoughts under Control, Thoughts about Work and Thoughts about Past), “meaning” (Deep Thoughts, Not Sharing Thoughts) and “sensation” (Thoughts about Odours, Thoughts about Sounds). LSD increased the FFT for abstract words reflecting an “abstract flow” under free association. Overall, chaos was strongest pronounced (+2 h to +6 h), followed by meaning (+2 h to +4 h), sensation (+2 h) and abstract flow (+4 h). Conclusions: LSD affects the stream of thought within several levels (active, passive), facets (chaos, meaning, sensation, abstractness) and time points (from +2 h to +6 h). Increased chaos, meaning and abstract flow at +4 h indicate the utility of a late therapeutic window in psycholytic therapy.
Mapeamento mental através da análise computacional do discurso
(2017-07-11) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0649912135067700; http://lattes.cnpq.br/9400915429521069; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0649912135067700; Vargas, Cláudia Domingues; http://lattes.cnpq.br/1019505555117852; Queiroz, Cláudio Marcos Teixeira de; http://lattes.cnpq.br/3384801391828521; Valentim, Ricardo Alexsandro de Medeiros; http://lattes.cnpq.br/3181772060208133; Burge, Silvia Alice
Entender comportamentos humanos complexos como a linguagem e suas variações em diferentes situações é um importante objetivo de pesquisa há muitos anos. Uma abordagem naturalística e quantitativa para medir precisamente variações de linguagem do ponto de vista estrutural e semântico apontam para um avanço nessa área, possibilitando medir variações manifestadas em discurso livre que refletem declínio cognitivo em situações patológicas, como nas psicoses, ou no desenvolvimento cognitivo em crianças durante alfabetização, e até mesmo durante o processamento de memórias em estados fisiológicos alterados de consciência, como o que ocorre durante os sonhos. Nesse trabalho iniciaremos discutindo 1) a elaboração de ferramentas para análise de estrutura da fala inspiradas nas descrições psicopatológicas de doenças mentais, 2) sua aplicação para diagnóstico diferencial de psicose e demências, 3) assim como a aplicação de ferramentas semânticas para predição de episódios psicóticos. Pela análise da estrutura do discurso usando grafos para estudar a trajetória de palavras usadas pelos sujeitos ao relatar um sonho, foi possível, por exemplo, verificar que sujeitos portadores do diagnóstico de Esquizofrenia falavam de forma menos conectada que sujeitos com diagnóstico de Transtorno Bipolar do Humor ou sujeitos livres de sintomas psicóticos. Da mesa forma verificamos que havia uma maior distância semântica entre frases consecutivas em entrevistas psiquiátricas de sujeitos em fase prodrômica de psicose que em seguimento de 2 anos e meio fizeram um episódio psicótico pleno. Seguiremos ampliando esse olhar para além do patológico, observando 4) como variam essas medidas de estrutura da linguagem com o desenvolvimento cognitivo saudável e 5) sua relação com a educação. Observamos correlações entre conectividade do relato e performance em testes de inteligência fluida, teoria da mente e performance em leitura. Também investigamos em uma população ampla com grande variação de idades 6) como se dá o desenvolvimento dessas medidas ao longo do desenvolvimento educacional, 7) avaliando o impacto dos anos de educação nessa população e 8) seus correlatos com o desenvolvimento histórico da literatura em aproximadamente 5.000 anos. De maneira geral, encontramos que padrões de conectividade cresceram e estabilizaram ao final da idade do bronze, logo antes da era axial, na literatura, e que quanto mais tempo de educação tem o sujeito, maiores componentes conectados fazem ao relatar suas memórias, valores que se estabilizam apenas ao final do ensino médio (desenvolvimento que não se observa em população com sintomas de psicose). Finalizaremos aplicando ferramentas de similaridade semântica para 9) medir reverberação de memórias durante os sonhos e seus correlatos eletrofisiológicos em um experimento de transição entre vigília e sono. Podemos concluir a partir dos resultados que ferramentas estruturais e semânticas apresentam grande potencial para melhorar a precisão de comportamentos humanos complexos expressos na fala, de maneira naturalística, possibilitando investigações reveladoras sobre cognição e a consciência humana.
A Naturalistic Assessment of the Organization of Children’s Memories Predicts Cognitive Functioning and Reading Ability
(2016-08-02) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Weissheimer, Janaína; Madruga, Beatriz; Adamy, Nery; Bunge, Silvia A.; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
To explore the relationship between memory and early school performance, we used graph theory to investigate memory reports from 76 children aged 6–8 years. The reports comprised autobiographical memories of events days to years past, and memories of novel images reported immediately after encoding. We also measured intelligence quotient (IQ) and theory of mind (ToM). Reading and Mathematics were assessed before classes began (December 2013), around the time of report collection (June 2014), and at the end of the academic year (December 2014). IQ and ToM correlated positively with word diversity and word-to-word connectivity, and negatively with word recurrence. Connectivity correlated positively with Reading in June 2014 as well as December 2014, even after adjusting for IQ and ToM. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating a link between the structure of children’s memories and their cognitive or academic performance.
Nonsemantic word graphs of texts spanning ∼ 4500 years, including pre-literate Amerindian oral narratives
(Elsevier BV, 2021-08-14) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Pinheiro, Sylvia; Guerreiro Júnior, Antonio Roberto; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Non-semantic word graphs obtained from oral reports are useful to describe cognitive decline in psychiatric conditions such as Schizophrenia, as well as education-related gains in discourse structure during typical development. Here we provide non-semantic word graph attributes of texts spanning approximately 4500 years of history, and pre-literate Amerindian oral narratives. The dataset assessed comprises 707 literary texts representative of 9 different Afro-Eurasian traditions (Syro-Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hinduist, Persian, Judeo-Christian, Greek-Roman, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary), and Amerindian narratives (N = 39) obtained from a single ethnic group from South America (Kalapalo, N = 18), or from a mixed ethnic group from South, Central and North America (non-Kalapalo, N = 21). The present article provides detailed information about each text or narrative, including measurements of four graph attributes of interest: number of nodes (lexical diversity), repeated edges (short-range recurrence), largest strongly connected component (long-range recurrence), and average shortest path (graph length)
Selective inhibition of mirror invariance for letters consolidated by sleep doubles reading fluency
(Elsevier, 2020-12-17) Torres, Ana Raquel; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Adamy Neto, Nery; Naschold, Angela Maria Chuvas; Lima, Thiago Zaqueu; Silva, Mauro Copelli Lopes da; Weissheimer, Janaina; Pegado, Felipe Andre Fernandes; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Mirror invariance is a visual mechanism that enables a prompt recognition of mirror images. This visual capacity emerges early in human development, is useful to recognize objects, faces, and places from both left and right perspectives, and is also present in primates, pigeons, and cephalopods. Notwithstanding, the same visual mechanism has been suspected to be the source of a specific difficulty for a relatively recent human invention—reading—by creating confusion between mirror letters (e.g., b-d in the Latin alphabet). Using an ecologically valid school-based design, we show here that mirror invariance represents indeed a major leash for reading fluency acquisition in first graders. Our causal approach, which specifically targeted mirror invariance inhibition for letters, in a synergic combination with post-training sleep to increase learning consolidation, revealed unprecedented improvement in reading fluency, which became two-times faster. This gain was obtained with as little as 7.5 h of multisensory-motor training to distinguish mirror letters, such as “b” versus “d.” The magnitude, automaticity, and duration of this mirror discrimination learning were greatly enhanced by sleep, which keeps the gains perfectly intact even after 4 months. The results were consistently replicated in three randomized controlled trials. They not only reveal an extreme case of cognitive plasticity in humans (i.e., the inhibition in just 3 weeks of a ∼25-million-year-old visual mechanism), that allows adaptation to a cultural activity (reading), but at the same time also show a simple and cost-effective way to unleash the reading fluency potential of millions of children worldwide
Speech graph analysis in obsessive-compulsive disorder: the relevance of dream reports
(Elsevier BV, 2023-03) Gomes, Matilde; Pérez, Maria Picó; Castro, Inês; Moreira, Pedro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Morgado, Pedro
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a distressing disorder characterized by the presence of intrusive thoughts, images or urges (obsessions) and/or behavioral efforts to reduce the anxiety (compulsions). OCD lifetime prevalence varies between 1% and 3% in the general population and there are no reliable markers that support the diagnosis. In order to fill this gap, Computational Psychiatry employs multiple types of quantitative analyses to improve the understanding, diagnosis, prediction, and treatment of mental illnesses including OCD. One of these computational tools is speech graphs analysis. A graph represents a network of nodes connected by edges: in non-semantic speech graphs, nodes correspond to words and edges correspond to the directed link between consecutive words. Using non-semantic speech graphs, we compared free speech samples from OCD patients and healthy controls (HC), to test whether speech graphs analysis can grasp structural differences in speech between these groups. To this end, 39 OCD patients and 37 HC were interviewed and recorded during six types of speech reports: yesterday, dream, old memory, positive image, negative image and neutral image. Also, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and the Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) were used to assess symptom severity. The graph-theoretical structural analysis of dream reports showed that OCD patients have significantly smaller lexical diversity, lower speech connectedness and a higher recurrence of words in comparison with HC. The other five report types failed to show differences between the groups, adding to the notion that dream reports are especially informative of speech structure in different psychiatric states. Further investigation is necessary to completely assess the potential of this tool in OCD
Speech structure links the neural and socio-behavioural correlatesof psychotic disorders
(2018-07-08) Palaniyappan, Lena; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Oowise, Shamuz; Balain, Vijender; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; Liddle, Peter
Background: A longstanding notion in the concept of psychosis is the prominence of loosened associative links in thought processes. Assessment of such subtle aspects of thought disorders has proved to be a challenging task in clinical practice and to date no surrogate markers exist that can reliably track the physiological effects of treatments that could reduce thought disorders. Recently, automated speech graph analysis has emerged as a promising means to reliably quantify structural speech disorganization. Methods: Using structural and functional imaging, we investigated the neural basis and the functional relevance of the structural connectedness of speech samples obtained from 56 patients with psychosis (22 with bipolar disorder, 34 with schizophrenia). Speech structure was assessed by non-semantic graph analysis. Results: We found a canonical correlation linking speech connectedness and i) functional as well as developmentally relevant structural brain markers (degree centrality from resting state functional imaging and cortical gyrification index) ii) psychometric evaluation of thought disorder iii) aspects of cognitive performance (processing speed deficits) and iv) functional outcome in patients. Of various clinical metrics, only speech connectedness was correlated with biological markers. Speech connectedness filled the dynamic range of responses better than psychometric measurements of thought disorder. Conclusions: The results provide novel evidence that speech dysconnectivity could emerge from neurodevelopmental deficits and associated dysconnectivity in psychosis.
Structural differences between REM and non-REM dream reports assessed by graph analysis
(2020-07-23) Martin, Joshua Michael; Andriano, Danyal Wainstein; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Rolim, Sérgio Arthuro Mota; Araujo, John Fontenele; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Dream reports collected after rapid eye movement sleep (REM) awakenings are, on average, longer, more vivid, bizarre, emotional and story-like compared to those collected after non-REM. However, a comparison of the word-to-word structural organization of dream reports is lacking, and traditional measures that distinguish REM and non-REM dreaming may be confounded by report length. This problem is amenable to the analysis of dream reports as non-semantic directed word graphs, which provide a structural assessment of oral reports, while controlling for individual differences in verbosity. Against this background, the present study had two main aims: Firstly, to investigate differences in graph structure between REM and non-REM dream reports, and secondly, to evaluate how non-semantic directed word graph analysis compares to the widely used measure of report length in dream analysis. To do this, we analyzed a set of 133 dream reports obtained from 20 participants in controlled laboratory awakenings from REM and N2 sleep. We found that: (1) graphs from REM sleep possess a larger connectedness compared to those from N2; (2) measures of graph structure can predict ratings of dream complexity, where increases in connectedness and decreases in randomness are observed in relation to increasing dream report complexity; and (3) measures of the Largest Connected Component of a graph can improve a model containing report length in predicting sleep stage and dream report complexity. These results indicate that dream reports sampled after REM awakening have on average a larger connectedness compared to those sampled after N2 (i.e. words recur with a longer range), a difference which appears to be related to underlying differences in dream complexity. Altogether, graph analysis represents a promising method for dream research, due to its automated nature and potential to complement report length in dream analysis.
The graph properties of psychotic speech differ between early and late onset, but not between acute and chronic psychosis.
(2014-09) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Introdução Speech structure measured by graph analysis can help clinicians to quantify speech symptoms, and characterize the psychopathology of psychosis. One important feature observed by psychiatrists are the different aspects of early and late onset psychosis with regard to cognitive symptoms. Since larger cognitive deficits are expected in the population with early onset psychosis, early diagnosis is important to guide interventions able to mitigate a more severe evolution of the disease. Objetivos The aim of the present study is to identify the influence on different types of psychosis (schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) of different types of onset (early onset: psychosis before age 18, late onset: after age 18) and different disease durations (during first episode psychosis or chronic psychosis, after two years of disease). Métodos We interviewed 52 psychotic subjects, applying psychometric scales and asking for dream reports. Then we transcribed those reports, represented as wordgraphs (each word was represented as a node, and the temporal link between consecutive words was represented as an edge) and quantified 14 speech graph attributes (SGAs) after controlling for differences in word count. Resultados e Conclusões We performed a threeway ANOVA to predict the influence of age of onset (early or late), duration of disease (first episode psychosis or chronic) and diagnosis (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), considering 3 different types of interaction (onset x duration, onset x diagnosis, duration x diagnosis), and correcting for 3 comparisons (α=0.0167). Diagnosis is related with differences in edges (p=0.0001), LCC (p=0.0002), LSC (p=0.0001), and ATD (p=0.0046); onset is related with differences in L1 (p=0.0091) and the interaction of diagnosis and onset is related to differences in ATD (p=0.0155). We also found a positive correlation between selfloops and age of onset (RHO=0.3992, p=0.0034), but no correlation was detected between standard psychometric measures and duration of disease or age of onset. The late onset group showed more selfloops than the early onset group (p=0.0308), and the late onset schizophrenia group showed a smaller ATD than the early onset schizophrenia group (p=0.0489). Conclusion: Selfloops measured on graphs of dream reports are better correlated with age of onset than standard psychometric measures, characterizing differences between early and late onset psychotic groups. We also found that early onset schizophrenia, but not bipolar psychosis, shows higher ATD than late onset schizophrenia. We did not find correlations between SGAs and duration of disease, or interactions between duration and onset or diagnosis to explain SGAs differences, pointing to the conclusion that SGAs must be a trace, more than a stage metric of psychotic speech.
The history of writing reflects the effects of education on discourse structure: implications for literacy, orality, psychosis and the axial age
(Elsevier, 2020-10-01) Pinheiro, Sylvia; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Sigman, Mariano; Fernández-Slezak, Diego; Guerreiro, Antonio; Tófoli, Luís Fernando; Cecchi, Guillermo; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Background: Graph analysis detects psychosis and literacy acquisition. Bronze Age literature has been proposed to contain childish or psychotic features, which would only have matured during the Axial Age (∼800-200 BC), a putative boundary for contemporary mentality. Method: Graph analysis of literary texts spanning ∼4,500 years shows remarkable asymptotic changes over time. Results: While lexical diversity, long-range recurrence and graph length increase away from randomness, short-range recurrence declines towards random levels. Bronze Age texts are structurally similar to oral reports from literate typical children and literate psychotic adults, but distinct from poetry, and from narratives by preliterate preschoolers or Amerindians. Text structure reconstitutes the “arrow-of-time”, converging to educated adult levels at the Axial Age onset. Conclusion: The educational pathways of oral and literate traditions are structurally divergent, with a decreasing range of recurrence in the former, and an increasing range of recurrence in the latter. Education is seemingly the driving force underlying discourse maturation
The maturation of speech structure in psychosis is resistant to formal education
(2018-12-07) Mota, Natália Bezerra; Sigman, Mariano; Cecchi, Guillermo; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Discourse varies widely with age, level of education, and psychiatric state. Word graphs have been recently shown to provide behavioral markers of formal thought disorders in psychosis (e.g., disorganized flow of ideas) and to track literacy acquisition in children with typical development. Here we report that a graph-theoretical computational analysis of verbal reports from subjects spanning 6 decades of age and 2 decades of education reveals asymptotic changes over time that depend more on education than age. In typical subjects, short-range recurrence and lexical diversity stabilize after elementary school, whereas graph size and longrange recurrence only steady after high school. Short-range recurrence decreases towards random levels, while lexical diversity, long-range recurrence, and graph size increase away from near-randomness towards a plateau in educated adults. Subjects with psychosis do not show similar dynamics, presenting at adulthood a children-like discourse structure. Typical subjects increase the range of word recurrence over school years, but the same feature in subjects with psychosis resists education

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