Psychogalvanic Studies on Affective Variations in the Mentally Diseased

The emotional reactions of psychotic individuals: a new and simple test.

“…It was this investigator's conclusion that the emotions of hysteria are largely artificial, agreeing with the clinical observations of James and Janet. Westburgh (72), for the most part, has confirmed these observations. Smith (52) combined the psyehogalvanometer with Jung's word association test in an attempt to measure quantitatively the emotionality of individuals.…”

“…This field of research attracted many able workers. The contributions of WaUer (66), Wechsler (76), Westburgh (71,72), Landis (26) and others are particularly noteworthy. The test consists of the measurement of differences in electrical potential at the finger-tips when the individual is subjected to different types of emotional stimuli.…”

The emotional reactions of psychotic individuals: a new and simple test.

“…It was this investigator's conclusion that the emotions of hysteria are largely artificial, agreeing with the clinical observations of James and Janet. Westburgh (72), for the most part, has confirmed these observations. Smith (52) combined the psyehogalvanometer with Jung's word association test in an attempt to measure quantitatively the emotionality of individuals.…”

“…This field of research attracted many able workers. The contributions of WaUer (66), Wechsler (76), Westburgh (71,72), Landis (26) and others are particularly noteworthy. The test consists of the measurement of differences in electrical potential at the finger-tips when the individual is subjected to different types of emotional stimuli.…”

Electrodermal activity in schizophrenics: Further considerations.

“…However, there appears to be adequate evidence of (a) lessened reactivity for certain subgroups of schizophrenics, with a tendency for the lowest responsiveness to be found among the stuporous catatonics or the quite "demented" patients; and there is evidence of (b) increase in electrodermal reactivity toward a more normal level accompanying clinical improvement in patients previously having very low reactivity. Although not detailed above, both sets of findings have parallels in the data on skin conductance level, measured either at rest or during a variety of stimulus situations (Gruzelier & Venables, 1972;Syz, 1926;Syz & Kinder, 1928;Westburgh, 1929).…”

“…Similarly, Syz and Kinder (1928) reported that their stuporous catatonics gave abnormally few specific skin conductance responses to the same set of verbal and physical stimuli previously used by Syz (1926). Westburgh (1929) reported smaller skin conductance responses to a list of "neutral" and "emotionally charged" words for his sample of schizophrenics than for his normal individuals, with catatonics showing the smallest responses. More generally, the amplitude of responses tended to be smallest for those patients seen as most severely disturbed; and, within individuals, skin conductance response amplitude moved upward toward normal levels in patients showing clinical improvement.…”

“…To begin, several studies indicate lower than normal skin conductance level prior to stimulation for various groups of schizophrenics (Freeman & Rodnick, 1940;Goldstein & Acker, 1967;Jurko, Jost, & Hill, 1952;Syz, 1926;' Westburgh, 1929). Also, Syz and Kinder (1928) found abnormally low increases in skin conductance level for their samples of catatonic and paranoid schizophrenics during a long series of "emotional" verbal stimuli.…”

The emotional reactions of psychotic individuals: a new and simple test.

“…It was this investigator's conclusion that the emotions of hysteria are largely artificial, agreeing with the clinical observations of James and Janet. Westburgh (72), for the most part, has confirmed these observations. Smith (52) combined the psyehogalvanometer with Jung's word association test in an attempt to measure quantitatively the emotionality of individuals.…”

“…This field of research attracted many able workers. The contributions of WaUer (66), Wechsler (76), Westburgh (71,72), Landis (26) and others are particularly noteworthy. The test consists of the measurement of differences in electrical potential at the finger-tips when the individual is subjected to different types of emotional stimuli.…”

Electrodermal activity in schizophrenics: Further considerations.

“…However, there appears to be adequate evidence of (a) lessened reactivity for certain subgroups of schizophrenics, with a tendency for the lowest responsiveness to be found among the stuporous catatonics or the quite "demented" patients; and there is evidence of (b) increase in electrodermal reactivity toward a more normal level accompanying clinical improvement in patients previously having very low reactivity. Although not detailed above, both sets of findings have parallels in the data on skin conductance level, measured either at rest or during a variety of stimulus situations (Gruzelier & Venables, 1972;Syz, 1926;Syz & Kinder, 1928;Westburgh, 1929).…”

“…Similarly, Syz and Kinder (1928) reported that their stuporous catatonics gave abnormally few specific skin conductance responses to the same set of verbal and physical stimuli previously used by Syz (1926). Westburgh (1929) reported smaller skin conductance responses to a list of "neutral" and "emotionally charged" words for his sample of schizophrenics than for his normal individuals, with catatonics showing the smallest responses. More generally, the amplitude of responses tended to be smallest for those patients seen as most severely disturbed; and, within individuals, skin conductance response amplitude moved upward toward normal levels in patients showing clinical improvement.…”

“…To begin, several studies indicate lower than normal skin conductance level prior to stimulation for various groups of schizophrenics (Freeman & Rodnick, 1940;Goldstein & Acker, 1967;Jurko, Jost, & Hill, 1952;Syz, 1926;' Westburgh, 1929). Also, Syz and Kinder (1928) found abnormally low increases in skin conductance level for their samples of catatonic and paranoid schizophrenics during a long series of "emotional" verbal stimuli.…”

The emotional reactions of psychotic individuals: a new and simple test.

“…It was this investigator's conclusion that the emotions of hysteria are largely artificial, agreeing with the clinical observations of James and Janet. Westburgh (72), for the most part, has confirmed these observations. Smith (52) combined the psyehogalvanometer with Jung's word association test in an attempt to measure quantitatively the emotionality of individuals.…”

“…This field of research attracted many able workers. The contributions of WaUer (66), Wechsler (76), Westburgh (71,72), Landis (26) and others are particularly noteworthy. The test consists of the measurement of differences in electrical potential at the finger-tips when the individual is subjected to different types of emotional stimuli.…”

Electrodermal activity in schizophrenics: Further considerations.

“…However, there appears to be adequate evidence of (a) lessened reactivity for certain subgroups of schizophrenics, with a tendency for the lowest responsiveness to be found among the stuporous catatonics or the quite "demented" patients; and there is evidence of (b) increase in electrodermal reactivity toward a more normal level accompanying clinical improvement in patients previously having very low reactivity. Although not detailed above, both sets of findings have parallels in the data on skin conductance level, measured either at rest or during a variety of stimulus situations (Gruzelier & Venables, 1972;Syz, 1926;Syz & Kinder, 1928;Westburgh, 1929).…”

“…Similarly, Syz and Kinder (1928) reported that their stuporous catatonics gave abnormally few specific skin conductance responses to the same set of verbal and physical stimuli previously used by Syz (1926). Westburgh (1929) reported smaller skin conductance responses to a list of "neutral" and "emotionally charged" words for his sample of schizophrenics than for his normal individuals, with catatonics showing the smallest responses. More generally, the amplitude of responses tended to be smallest for those patients seen as most severely disturbed; and, within individuals, skin conductance response amplitude moved upward toward normal levels in patients showing clinical improvement.…”

“…To begin, several studies indicate lower than normal skin conductance level prior to stimulation for various groups of schizophrenics (Freeman & Rodnick, 1940;Goldstein & Acker, 1967;Jurko, Jost, & Hill, 1952;Syz, 1926;' Westburgh, 1929). Also, Syz and Kinder (1928) found abnormally low increases in skin conductance level for their samples of catatonic and paranoid schizophrenics during a long series of "emotional" verbal stimuli.…”