Premium
Orienting in Schizophrenia: Habituation to Auditory Stimuli of Constant and Varying Intensity in Patients High and Low in Skin Conductance Responsivity
Author(s) -
ÖHman Arne,
Nordby Helge,
D'Elia Giacomo
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb03132.x
Subject(s) - skin conductance , habituation , audiology , orienting response , psychology , intensity (physics) , heart rate , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , pulse (music) , conductance , neuroscience , medicine , blood pressure , psychiatry , physics , optics , detector , biomedical engineering , condensed matter physics
Groups of schizophrenics and normal controls were exposed to different series of tones of constant (80dB) and variable intensity (60, 80, and 100 dB). Measurements included bilateral skin conductance, finger pulse volume, and heart rate. Both groups were split on the common median in skin conductance response to constant intensity tones to form matched patient and control groups of low and high responsivity. The low and high responsive schizophrenic groups were more clearly separated than the two control groups in rate of spontaneous skin conductance fluctuations, skin conductance magnitudes, and skin conductance levels, primarily because of generalized hyperactivity in high responsive patients. This pattern was clearest for the most intense tone and left hand recordings. High responsive schizophrenics also showed larger response amplitudes, shorter rise and recovery times, and a smaller ratio of elicited to spontaneous responses, than high responsive controls. Finger pulse volume responses recorded from the left hand were smaller in the patient groups, whereas patients and controls did not differ in right hand recordings. High skin conductance responsive subjects showed more heart rate deceleration than low responsive subjects, and schizophrenics had more decelerative responses than controls.