![]() ![]() It's likely that this inability to understand the sort of conventional metaphors we use in everyday life is socially isolating for people with schizophrenia. These activated areas of the brain are very different to the brain areas activated in healthy patients, as if the brain is struggling to find a compensatory mechanism, to bypass the circuits normally used to understand metaphor." We found that biggest changes in brain activity in schizophrenia patients occur during the basic stage of metaphor processing, that is when a person needs to recognize there is incongruity between the opening sentence and the punchline. We also used everyday metaphors, which would be easily understood. However, by adding the absurd punchline, we were able to explore the stage at which the deficit occurs. ![]() "Previous researchers studied brain areas that are connected to impaired metaphor understanding in schizophrenia, so comparing metaphors with literal statements. Researcher Martin Jáni, from the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland said: Instead, schizophrenia patients showed a decreased activation in the temporal suculus (an area ascending from the low central brain towards the back of the head). For example, the healthy group showed brain activation in the prefrontal cortex (near the front of the brain) and left amygdala (at the centre of the brain, near the top of the brain stem), implying that these are the brain areas where metaphors are normally processed. They found that compared to controls, the patient group showed increased brain activity in certain areas, but lower brain activity in others. The scientists monitored brain activity while the subjects were reacting to the stories. 30 of the stories had a metaphorical ending, 30 had an absurd/nonsense ending, and 30 had a neutral ending (i.e. While undergoing a brain scan in a high-sensitivity MRI, they read 90 brief stories. There has been little attempt to understand why this might be so at a neurological level.Ī group of Polish and Czech researcher examined 30 patients who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls. They tend to take the metaphor at its literal meaning (for example, "a leap in the dark" may imply jumping and darkness for someone with schizophrenia): it may take some time for them to arrive at an understanding of what the metaphor is meant to imply. “The goal is that Times Square and the plazas serve as a kind of cultural hub, reflecting the creative and cultural talent of the city." To do that, the Alliance must let New Yorkers, and tourists, choose how to use the new space.People with schizophrenia have often problems in understanding some common figurative expressions, such as humour, irony, and spoken metaphors. “One of the metaphors that was used in the design process was this idea of Broadway and Times Square as an ever-changing theater set,” says Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, adding that both buskers and Broadway musicals factor into future programming. ![]() Such flexibility is great for programming. More importantly, they feature electrical outlets capable of powering everything from a busker’s guitar amp to a Broadway-caliber musical act. It creates a more communal space than the clusters of metal picnic tables and chairs nearby. On the morning I’m there, Dykers points to people huddled around or leaning on the benches. Each encourages a range of sitting postures. One crucial thing Snøhetta did do: It designed five different benches and installed them throughout the plaza. The firm also expanded crosswalks to 40 feet wide, to keep people from clustering at corners. To keep things flowing smoothly, Snøhetta placed benches running north and south along Broadway, and oriented them toward one another to create room-like spaces. Snøhetta modeled and observed where pedestrians moved and collected in the square. ![]()
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