On Perception of Complex Sound in Schizophrenia and Mania

Abstract

Eleven schizophrenic psychotic and 11 manic psychotic patients have been compared with each other and with a reference group of 34 dentists with respect to their emotional experience of seven complex nonverbal sounds. A rating form was used which measures three factors of emotional perception: tension – relaxation (factor I), gaiety – gloom (factor II), and attraction – repulsion (factor III). Analyses of variance of the factor scores revealed main tendencies between the psychopathological groups in factor I and III, i.e. schizophrenic psychotics rated the sounds generally as more tense and more attractive than manic psychotics. The manic psychotics rated the sounds as generally less tense and very much more attractive than the other groups. In factor II the manic psychotics rated one piece as significantly more gay than the other groups. It is discussed in what ways these differences of complex sound perception may be related to characteristic symptoms of the psychopathological states. No convincing evidence may be drawn from this study supporting the assumption that the two psychopathological groups might differ in a specific way in relation to any elementary structural property of the sounds.

Perception and experience of musical emotions in schizophrenia

“…Irrespective of symptomatology, outpatients reported a greater attraction towards digitally-manipulated Bach compositions than controls, despite having an otherwise 'correct' experience of their valence and arousal. An earlier series of studies with over 100 psychiatric patients observed a similar effect (Nielzén & Cesarec, 1982;Nielzén, Olsson, & Ohman, 1993): patients undergoing psychosis were more attracted to music, and the difference was especially pronounced when negatively-valenced stimuli were at play. In one study (Nielzén & Cesarec, 1982), patients were drawn to those short pieces of orchestral music which controls had found the least appealing.…”

“…Review of musical experiences in schizophrenia uncovered consistent evidence of overarousal. Varied patient samples had highly arousing experiences, as indexed by miscellaneous measures: stabilized patients as well as individuals undergoing psychosis or suffering from a steep cognitive decline reached higher than normal excitement, according to self-reported data (Nielzén & Cesarec, 1982; Nielzén et al, 1993), spectral EEG (Burge & Siebert, 2010; Günther et al, 1991; 1993), or imaging data (Dyck et al, 2014). Arousal typically rises in persons who are sensitized by the symptoms of psychosis or their connotations (Aleman & Kahn, 2005; Cohen & Minor, 2008).…”

“…Arousal typically rises in persons who are sensitized by the symptoms of psychosis or their connotations (Aleman & Kahn, 2005; Cohen & Minor, 2008). Indeed, some properties of music could connote psychotic symptoms and foster abnormal reactions (Nielzén & Cesarec, 1982; Nielzén et al, 1993). The uniformity of musical overarousal could also originate in schizophrenic auditory deficits (Dyck et al, 2014; Weisgerber et al, 2015).…”

“…Emotional regulation is threatened by psychosis and intense emotional experiences need careful managing. In this respect, the importance of further research on the properties of music, including tempo, rhythm, complexity, and genre, is stressed again, as some could promote unhealthy reactions (Nielzén & Cesarec, 1982; Nielzén et al, 1993). Subcortical imaging could help determine the generalizability of musical findings and identify the causes of musical overarousal.…”

Psychophysiology and psychoacoustics of music: Perception of complex sound in normal subjects and psychiatric patients

“…This research has mainly focused on normal subjects being musicians or non-musicians. An interesting study has been published on a patient with central auditory processing disorder [25], with documentation of increases in cerebral blood flow in the lateral prefrontal cortices, the middle temporal cortices and the cerebellar hemispheres as a consequence of attentive listening. This research in central auditory pathology is only recently developing as the complexity of the auditory cortex with its 15 known subdivisions is starting to be appreciated.…”