The general purpose of this project is to investigate the roles of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, attention, and information processing and their interrelationships in the pathology, etiology, and prognosis of psychiatric disorders. A second purpose is to determine biological and psychological processes related to ANS activity and attention. ANS activity is assessed by peripheral measures, such as skin conductance, heart rate, and skin temperature. Subjects are tested under conditions of rest, presentation of tones, and performance on tasks such as reaction time and mental arithmetic. Biological mechanisms are investigated by correlating these variables with enzyme activity, neuropeptides, and levels of biogenic amines and their metabolites and with brain dysfunction as revealed by CT and PET scans. Studies are being done on unmedicated patients with diagnoses of schizophrenia, affective disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety-panic disorder, and autism to test the diagnostic specificity of patterns of ANS activity. Children of parents with bipolar affective disorder are being studied to determine a possible ANS trait markers. In some studies blood samples are taken during ANS recording sessions in which stressful procedures are given. In one, the effects of success and failure to escape an aversive noise are assessed, and in another, the effects of a dose of yohimbine is being studied. Clinical trials of various treatments are studied in various groups. Psychological correlates are studied via clinical background data, clinical ratings and questionnaires, and by procedural variations. The use of confirmatory factor analysis in data reduction and to improve quantification of ANS activity is being explored.
