UC Berkeley

While people with schizophrenia report just as much emotion in the presence of emotional evocative stimuli, evidence suggests that they may show deficits in the anticipation of positive emotion. However, no work to date has directly tested this notion utilizing standardized stimuli across multiple methods of measurement. The present study took a multi-method approach by examining reported experience and emotion modulated startle response in people with (n = 27) and without (n = 27) schizophrenia as they anticipated and subsequently viewed evocative pictures. In addition, given that anticipation relies, in part, on our ability to remember the past, we assessed memory for emotional stimuli immediately and one-week later. Results indicated that people with schizophrenia had a deficit in the anticipation of both positive and negative emotion. Furthermore, anticipatory responses, especially to positive cues, were related to symptoms and functioning in schizophrenia. Results also suggested that while delayed recognition of emotional stimuli is intact, those with SZ showed a deficit in immediate recall that was associated with anticipation and cognitive difficulties.