Contrary to early conceptualizations of emotional
experience in schizophrenia (SZ), recent research indicates
that patients do not self-report less in-the-moment
pleasure than controls (CN). Rather, patients report
experiencing elevated levels of negative emotionality in
response to a range of evocative stimuli. In this study, we
examined the possibility that elevations in negative emotionality
in SZ may reflect an underlying emotion regulation
abnormality. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were
recorded from outpatients with SZ (n = 25) and demographically
matched healthy controls (n = 21) during
passive viewing of unpleasant and neutral photographs.
Unpleasant images were preceded by an audio description
that described the image as being either negative or
neutral. Neutral images were preceded by neutral audio
descriptions. The late positive potential (LPP), an ERP
component sensitive to cognitive change strategies, was
examined as an index of emotion regulation. Both CN
and SZ showed an increased LPP to negatively described
unpleasant images compared with neutral images. In
addition, CN showed evidence of emotion regulation,
as reflected by a smaller LPP for unpleasant images
preceded by a neutral descriptor, relative to a negative
descriptor. In contrast, SZ patients showed an inability
to downregulate emotional response, as evidenced by
no difference in the amplitude of the LPP for unpleasant
images preceded by negative or neutral descriptors.
Findings provide neurophysiological evidence for an emotion
regulation abnormality in SZ and suggest that failures
in cognitive change may underlie increased negative
emotionality in SZ.