title: Latent inhibition and schizophrenia: Pavlovian conditioning of autonomic responses.
abstract: Latent inhibition (LI) is an important model for understanding cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Disruption of LI is thought to result from an inability to ignore irrelevant stimuli. The study investigated LI in schizophrenic patients by using Pavlovian conditioning of electrodermal responses in a complete within-subject design. Thirty-two schizophrenic patients (16 acute, unmedicated and 16 medicated patients) and 16 healthy control subjects (matched with respect to age and gender) participated in the study. The experiment consisted of two stages: preexposure and conditioning. During preexposure two visual stimuli were presented. one of which served as the to-be-conditioned stimulus (CSp + ) and the other one was the not-to-be-conditioned stimulus (CSp - ) during the following conditioning ( = acquisition). During acquisition, two novel visual stimuli(CSn + and CSn - ) were introduced. A reaction time task was used as the unconditioned stimulus (US). LI was defined as the difference in response differentiation observed between preexposed and non-preexposed sets of CS + and CS - . During preexposure, the schizophrenic patients did not differ in electrodermal responding from the control subjects, neither concerning the extent of orienting nor the course of habituation. The exposure to novel stimuli at the beginning of the acquisition elicited reduced orienting responses in unmedicated patients compared to medicated patients and control subjects. LI was observed in medicated schizophrenic patients and healthy controls, but not in acute unmedicated patients. Furthermore LI was found to be correlated with the duration of illness: it was attenuated in patients who had suffered their first psychotic episode.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Physiological Psychology, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, D-35394 Giessen, Germany. dieter.vaitl@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaitl
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lipp
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schüler
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirsch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents