Abstract
This report compared the electrodermal functioning of a group of subjects diagnosed as having a schizophrenia related disorder with that of a group of normal controls. Level of psychopathological or ego strength functioning was examined in this context as well. From a sample of 258 adoptees and non-adoptees, 56 were found to have a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. A comparable number of adoptees without such a diagnosis were matched to these spectrum subjects in terms of sex, age, age of transfer to the adoptive home, socioeconomic status of the adoptive home, and age of adoptee at sick parent's first hospitalization. Each subject was presented with a series of orienting tones followed immediately by a classical conditioning procedure consisting of a moderate intensity tone (CS) and high intensity white noise (UCS). A number of electrodermal measures were used for the data analysis. Among these were frequency and amplitude of response, number of spontaneous responses, baseline response over trials, recovery rate, latency, and conditionability. The diagnosis of subject variable showed several significant interactions with the trials factor, the pattern of results being suggestive of greater electrodermal responsivity among spectrum-diagnosed subjects as compared to their matched controls. It was found also that for those subjects who responded to the conditioning stimuli, spectrum subjects showed a tendency toward greater conditionability than did controls. The ego strength variable differentiated subjects in terms of their response amplitude to the orienting tones. Also, a significant interaction of ego strength and trials factors was found for the conditioning procedure. Both sets of results are interpreted as showing a modest but consistent trend with that of previous studies. Discussed also is the relative lack of significant findings for the interaction of the diagnostic and ego strength variables.
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