Absence of cardiac deceleration in a signalled escape paradigm: a psychophysiological deficit in chronic schizophrenia.

Fourteen chronic male schizophrenic patients and six male control subjects were compared in an escape paradigm involving temporal warning of the presentation of an aversive tone stimulus to which an escape response was to be made. The characteristic heart rate deceleration shown immediately prior to the aversive stimulus by control subjects was absent in the schizophrenic group. Further features of this novel test paradigm distinguished the control and schizophrenic groups. This psychophysiological test procedure may be fruitful for schizophrenia research.