The relationship between auditory hallucinations and spontaneous fluctuations of skin conductance in schizophrenia.

A sample was collected of schizophrenic patients exhibiting nonverbal signs of intermittent auditory hallucinations. A video-tape record was made for each of a session, during which the patient's skin conductance was monitored. Independent raters achieved reasonable agreement on the onset of periods of hallucinatory activity, as judged from non-verbal signs. The skin conductance tracing was scored independently for spontaneous fluctuations. In the 10 patients with satisfactory records the onset of hallucinatory periods was significantly (P less than 0.01) associated with a rise in the spontaneous fluctuation rate.