A test of the hypothesis that psychopathological emotional deficit involves selective attention to unemotional stimuli was made. The attention of schizophrenics (n = 100) with high and low scores on measures of anhedonia and sensation-seeking to pleasant, unpleasant and neutral stimuli was contrasted. No differences in the mean attention scores of the groups appeared. The results do not support the hypothesis. Emotional deficit in schizophrenia does not seem to result from selective attention to nonemotional stimuli.
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