Perception and experience of musical emotions in schizophrenia

The schizophrenic disturbance of affective processing has seen a welcome revival in academic inquiry. However, laboratory research on emotion in schizophrenia has largely drawn on facial and prosodic stimuli and the suitability of this practice has been questioned. This article aims to explore the utility of musical material, and to motivate its use in research on emotion in schizophrenia. The article lists some of the empirical advantages of musical material and describes key auditory and affective deficits which could alter musical emotions in schizophrenia. Existing findings pertaining to the perception and experience of musical arousal and valence in schizophrenia are reviewed and compared with nonmusical findings. Results suggest that schizophrenia affects the recognition of both musical and nonmusical emotions. However, musical and nonmusical emotions appear to differ in that: 1) musical emotions are more arousing, 2) negative musical emotions stimulate approach tendencies, and 3) both the perception and experience of musical emotions share these characteristics. These differences are presently unexplained and warrant further investigation. An improvement in the use of musical material in research on emotion in schizophrenia is justified.