Electro-Dermal Activity, Heart Rate, Respiration under Emotional Stimuli in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Patients with schizophrenia are known to be impaired in several areas of emotional processing, including psychophysiological reactivity. This study investigates the preliminary autonomic reactions and recognition of schizophrenic patients according to basic emotional conditions. The parameters such as electrodermal activity (Skin conductance response, skin conductance level), heart rat, and respiration were measured by using emotion evoked stimuli. We found out that there were no differences of accuracy for recognition with the target emotion between groups. Also, we found out that in anger (heart rate), fear (electrodermal activity, respiration), and sadness (heart rate, respiration) condition, there was a difference of physiological responses between groups.