The effect of stressful and protective communicative events on the autonomic response in schizophrenic and healthy persons

The study of emotional processes in communication: II. Peripheral blood flow as an indicator of emotionalization

“…For instance, in a study comparable to ours in terms of its concern gathering on-line data of activational changes on a microanalytic level (Pennebaker, Hughes, & O'Heeron, 1987), heart rate changes did not seem to reflect the relevant emotional changes. In contrast, in our own investigations of emotionalization during everyday conversation (e.g., Kaserrnann & Altorfer, 1989;Kasermann, Altorfer, & Jossen, 1998), circulatory activity changes systematically covaried with changes in emotionalization. Such discrepancies need to be accounted for; one possible explanation lies in the different ways such a physiological variable can be processed, We conceive PBF as a continuously changing signal that is influenced by a multitude offactors.…”

“…Comparing the correlation function ofa template from a standard course ofactivation with that from a course during potentially critical events helps determine whether a predicted activation change has occurred. For instance, we collected evidence indicating that template analysis can distinguish between patterns ofrelaxation of healthy persons and of medicated schizophrenics; furthermore, within the two diagnostic groups, patterns of relaxation are distinct from patterns during critical communicative events (Kasermann, 1998). This finding recurred in a number ofsingle-case studies (Kasermann, 1998;Kasermann, Altorfer, & lossen, 1998).…”

“…The graphical representation of this correlation function itself has a characteristic form. While working on the task empirically, we learned that as a rule, relaxation is accompanied by a sinus-like correlation function (Kasermann, 1998;Porges & Bohrer, 1990, e.g., p. 713). In contrast, the correlation function during critical episodes is characterized by a modification ofthis periodicity consisting of shorter durations of single periods and/or irregular durations between subsequent periods of the correlation function.…”