86 Italian-speaking participants (30 Schizophrenic patients and 56 normal controls) matched for
chronological age and level of formal education were included in the study. All participants underwent
accurate neuropsychological examination. The discourse analysis was performed on narratives
collected on a cartoon-picture description task. Productivity was similar in both groups. However, the
schizophrenic participants produced more semantic errors and their narratives were less informative
and more tangential. Correlations between neuropsychological and narrative measures help explaining
such aberrant discourse behaviour
