Sensorimotor gating and habituation evoked by electro-cutaneous stimulation in schizophrenia.

The present study has been performed in order to evaluate two relevant phenomena related to startle reflex (SR) evoked by electro-cutaneous stimulation in schizophrenic patients: 1) the effect of different interstimulus intervals on R1, R2 magnitude and on R2 latency in schizophrenia in order to verify if the gating effect influences all blink reflex (BR) parameters and 2) to replicate and extend our previous data on SR habituation. Our data have confirmed the existence of an impairment of habituation and an abnormal facilitatory effect of R1 component of BR in schizophrenics compared to healthy controls. The present study provides further evidence of specific defective mechanisms of information processing in schizophrenia. The methodology used for SR paradigm appears to be founded on a sound research basis and represents an advantageous paradigm for assessing attentional variables of information processing in mental disorders.