An analysis of the skin conductance orienting response in samples of American, British, and German schizophrenics

Bernstein, Alvin S.; Frith, C. D.; Gruzelier, John; Patterson, Terry; Straube, Eckart R.; Venables, Peter H.; Zahn, Theodore P.

doi:10.1016/0301-0511(82)90001-1

Cited by 203 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The finding of a population of schizophrenia patients with minimal or absent autonomic responses to sensory stimuli has been repeatedly replicated (37, 47, 48). The average proportion of patients with schizophrenia classified as nonresponders in previous studies is approximately 40%, compared to the 5–10% of nonresponders found in healthy and non-schizophrenia psychiatric samples (37), consistent with the rates found in the current study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Extinction Memory Is Impaired in Schizophrenia

Holt

Lebron‐Milad

Milad

et al. 2009

Biological Psychiatry

158

143

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Background Schizophrenia is associated with abnormalities in emotional processing and social cognition, which may result from disruption of the underlying neural mechanism(s) governing emotional learning and memory. To investigate this possibility, we measured the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear responses and delayed recall of extinction in schizophrenia and control subjects. Methods 28 schizophrenia and 18 demographically-matched control subjects underwent a two-day fear conditioning, extinction learning and extinction recall procedure, in which skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude was used as the index of conditioned responses. Results During fear acquisition, 83% of the controls and 57% of the patients showed autonomic responsivity (‘responders’), and the patients showed larger SCRs to the stimulus that was not paired with the unconditioned stimulus (CS−) than the controls. Within the responder group, there was no difference between the patients and controls in levels of extinction learning; however, the schizophrenia patients showed significant impairment, relative to the controls, in context-dependent recall of the extinction memory. In addition, delusion severity in the patients correlated with baseline skin conductance levels. Conclusions These data are consistent with prior evidence for a heightened neural response to innocuous stimuli in schizophrenia and elevated arousal levels in psychosis. The finding of deficient extinction recall in schizophrenia patients who showed intact extinction learning suggests that schizophrenia is associated with a disturbance in the neural processes supporting emotional memory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Extinction Memory Is Impaired in Schizophrenia

Holt

Lebron‐Milad

Milad

et al. 2009

Biological Psychiatry

158

143

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“…EDA factor score is a global measure using a factor score derived from a model fit to the three skin conductance measures. Electrodermal hyporesponsiveness is characteristic of schizophrenia (Bernstein et al 1982), and deviations in skin conductance activity are present in the first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients (Iacono et al 1999). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychophysiological endophenotypes to characterize mechanisms of known schizophrenia genetic loci

et al. 2016

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Background Endophenotypes are laboratory-based measures hypothesized to lie in the causal chain between genes and clinical disorder, and to serve as a more powerful way to identify genes associated with the disorder. One promise of endophenotypes is that they may assist in elucidating the neurobehavioral mechanisms by which an associated genetic polymorphism affects disorder risk in complex traits. We evaluated this promise by testing the extent to which variants discovered to be associated with schizophrenia through large-scale meta-analysis show associations with psychophysiological endophenotypes. Method We genome-wide genotyped and imputed 4905 individuals. Of these, 1837 were whole-genome-sequenced at 11× depth. In a community-based sample, we conducted targeted tests of variants within schizophrenia-associated loci, as well as genome-wide polygenic tests of association, with 17 psychophysiological endophenotypes including acoustic startle response and affective startle modulation, antisaccade, multiple frequencies of resting electroencephalogram, electrodermal activity and P300 event-related potential. Results Using single variant tests and gene-based tests we found suggestive evidence for an association between contactin 4 (CNTN4) and antisaccade and P300. We were unable to find any other variant or gene within the 108 schizophrenia loci significantly associated with any of our 17 endophenotypes. Polygenic risk scores indexing genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia were not related to any of the psychophysiological endophenotypes after correction for multiple testing. Conclusions The results indicate significant difficulty in using psychophysiological endophenotypes to characterize the genetically influenced neurobehavioral mechanisms by which genome-wide association study-identified risk loci affect disorder risk.

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“…The non-responsiveness criteria adopted was the strict one: no electrodermal response (SCOR) of at least 0.05mS to any stimuli presented. 31,32 After skin conductance levels were recorded, the participants sat by a table to perform the SCWT. The volunteers' performance was recorded and independently evaluated afterwards by two skilled examiners.…”

Section: First Experimental Sessionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of schizophrenic patients in the Stroop Color Word Test and electrodermal responsiveness after acute administration of cannabidiol (CBD)

Hallak¹,

Machado‐de‐Sousa²,

Crippa³

et al. 2010

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

106

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Objective: The last decade has seen increasing evidence of dysfunctions in the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia and of its relationship with the typical cognitive impairment of the disorder. Studies in animal models, healthy volunteers, and psychotic patients clearly suggest an antipsychotic-like effect of cannabidiol. This study investigated the effects of cannabidiol on selective attention in 28 schizophrenic patients using the Stroop Color Word Test and on these patients' electrodermal responsiveness to auditive stimuli. Method: The subjects attended two experimental sessions, the first one without the administration of drugs. In the second session the subjects were divided into three groups that received either a single dose of cannabidiol 300mg or cannabidiol 600mg or placebo. Results: The three groups did not differ significantly with respect to electrodermal measures in the two experimental sessions. When the first and second sessions were compared improved performance was found in all three groups, with patients who received placebo and cannabidiol 300mg performing better than those who received cannabidiol 600mg. Conclusion: The single, acute administration of cannabidiol seems to have no beneficial effects on the performance of schizophrenic patients in the Stroop Color Word Test, although the hypothesis that chronic administration may lead to improvement cannot be disregarded. Descriptors

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An analysis of the skin conductance orienting response in samples of American, British, and German schizophrenics

Cited by 203 publications

References 72 publications

Extinction Memory Is Impaired in Schizophrenia

Extinction Memory Is Impaired in Schizophrenia

Psychophysiological endophenotypes to characterize mechanisms of known schizophrenia genetic loci

Performance of schizophrenic patients in the Stroop Color Word Test and electrodermal responsiveness after acute administration of cannabidiol (CBD)

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