The applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical field are numerous and of considerable interest. In psychiatry, technology could help diagnose pathologies more precisely, as shown by a new English study on schizophrenia.
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Schizophrenia is a common and disabling neuropsychiatric disorder whose symptoms may include hallucinationshallucinationsdelusions, confused thoughts and changes in behavior (depending on National Health Service UK). At the clinical level, the disease is notably characterized by difficulties in abstract reasoning and less coherent language than in unaffected patients.
Researchers from the Institute of NeurologyUniversity College of London (UCL) and Oxford used language models fromartificial intelligenceartificial intelligence (AI) that can characterize signatures – even subtle ones – in the speech of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Published in PNAS, the study investigated how automated language analysis could help the medical profession diagnose and evaluate psychiatric disorders more accurately and earlier. Indeed, the current psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia is based almost entirely on interviews with patients and their loved ones.
More or less predictable words
Twenty-six patients with schizophrenia (with a confirmed diagnosis) and twenty-six control participants performed verbal fluency tasks, consisting of citing for five minutes as many words as possible belonging to the category “animals” or beginning with the letter “p”. This is to compare the choice of words and spontaneity of the two groups.
The researchers used natural language processing (or NLP for Natural Language Processing, in English), which were trained on large quantities of text in order to represent the meaning of words like humans. Result: Responses given by control participants were more predictable for the AI model than those generated by people with schizophrenia, and this difference was greater in patients with more severe symptoms.
A possible explanation lies in the way in which the brainbrain encodes relationships between memories and ideas, and stores this information in “cognitive maps.” However, the clinical characteristics of schizophrenia – from thought disorder to delirium – would reflect a disorganization of these conceptual representations according to the authors.
AI tools soon to be used in clinics?
“ This work shows the potential of applying AI language models to psychiatry, a medical field closely linked to languagesaid Dr. Matthew Nour, lead author of the study. By combining these cutting-edge AI models and brain scanning technology, we are beginning to uncover how meaning is constructed in the brain and how it can go awry in psychiatric disorders. »
The UCL and Oxford scientists now plan to use this technology on a larger sample of patients and in more varied speech contexts, to test whether it could prove useful clinically. “ If these tools prove secure and robust, I believe they will begin to be deployed over the next decade », Specified Dr Nour.