Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T20:20:35.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Cloze’ procedure refined and modified

‘Modified Cloze’, ‘reverse Cloze’ and the use of predictability as a measure of communication problems in psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Newby
David Newby*
Affiliation:
Millfield House, Kirk Lane, Yeadon, Leeds LS19 7LX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

‘Cloze procedure assesses the predictability of text by deleting words at set intervals and having a panel of raters fill the blanks. Two refinements to the procedure are described: ‘modified Cloze and ’ ‘reverse Cloze’, the latter examining the subject's ability to interpret a partial transcript.

Method

Samples of speech were obtained from patients with schizophrenia, manic-depression and orthopaedic disorders using a standard prompt, and the output analysed using modified Cloze. In addition, subjects completed a reverse Cloze passage.

Results

Both modified Cloze and reverse Cloze discriminated the performance of patient groups, with patients with schizophrenia performing worst.

Conclusions

These techniques extend earlier findings suggesting reduced predictability in psychotic speech, particularly for patients with schizophrenia. The reverse Cloze procedure suggests a ‘mirror-image’ deficit and is a potential objective index of psychopathology that is much simpler to apply than traditional Cloze.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue 2 , February 1998 , pp. 136 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous (1984) New Collins Thesaurus. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1979) Thought, language and communication disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 1315–1329.Google Scholar
Carpenter, W. T. Jr McGuffin, P. Mellor, C. S. et al (1996) Commentary on ‘first rank symptoms or rank and file symptoms?’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 541–550.Google Scholar
Chaika, E. (1982) Thought disorder or speech disorder in schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Bulletin, 8, 587–591.Google Scholar
Chapman, L. J. & Chapman, J. P. (1973) Disordered Thought in Schizophrenia. Old Tappan, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Fries, C. C. (1957) The Structure of English. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Maher, B. (1972) The language of schizophrenia: a review and interpretation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 3–17 Google Scholar
Newby, D. A. (1995) Analysis of language: terminology and techniques. In Speech and Language Disorders in Psychiatry (ed. Sims, A. C. P. S.), pp. 31–41. London: Gaskell.Google Scholar
Ragin, A. B. & Oltmanns, T. F. (1983) Predictability as an index of impaired verbal communication in schizophrenic and affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 578–583.Google Scholar
Ragin, A. B. & Oltmanns, T. F. (1987) Communicability and thought disorder in schizophrenics and other diagnostic groups: a follow-up study British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 494–500.Google Scholar
Rutter, D. R. Draffan, J. & Davies, J. (1977) Thought disorder and the predictability of schizophrenic speech. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 67–68.Google Scholar
Rutter, D. R. Wishner, J. & Caliaghan, B. A. (1975) The prediction and predictability of speech in schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 571–576.Google Scholar
Rutter, D. R. Wishner, J. Koptynska, H. et al (1978) The predictability of speech in schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 228–232.Google Scholar
Salzinger, K. Portnoy, S. & Feldman, R. S. (1964) Verbal behaviour of schizophrenic and normal subjects. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 105, 845–860.Google Scholar
Schwartz, S. (1982) Is there a schizophrenic language? Behavioural and Brain Sciences,. 5, 579–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, G. (1972) Psycholinguistics of schizophrenic language. Psychological Medicine, 2, 254–259 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria for a Selected Group of Functional Disorders. New York: Biometrics Research, New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Taylor, W. L. (1953) “Cloze Procedure”: a new tool for measuring readability. Journalism Quarterly, 30, 415–433.Google Scholar
Thomas, P. (1995) Thought disorder or communication disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 287–290.Google Scholar
Wykes, T. (1980) Language and schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 10, 403–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.