Electrodermal non-responding in schizophrenia: relationships to attentional, clinical, biochemical, computed tomographical and genetic factors.

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a psychophysiologically delineated subgroup of electrodermally non-responding subjects show deviations in other data domains. Specifically, we examined clinical ratings of psychopathology, cognitive measures of distractibility in short-term memory, family history of schizophrenia, as well as biochemical indices of monoamine and endorphin activity, and measures derived from computed tomography. The non-responders had significantly lower skin conductance level, less spontaneous fluctuations, and a smaller ratio of elicited to spontaneous responses. The non-responders had a significantly higher incidence of schizophrenic relatives than the responders, and tended to show more psychotic symptoms. The two groups did not differ in cognitive distractibility, or in biochemical and computed tomographical measures.