A comparison of emotion identification and its intensity between adults with schizophrenia and healthy adults: Using film music excerpts with emotional content

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference between adults with schizophrenia and healthy adults in terms of emotion identification, and the perceived intensity of the emotions in music excerpts. A total of 60 participants, including 27 adults with schizophrenia and 33 healthy adults, participated in this study. Participants listened to eight music excerpts which suggested emotions of happiness, peacefulness, anger, and sadness and were asked to choose the perceived emotion in each piece of music, and rate the intensity level of the emotion. Results of two-way ANOVA indicated that the schizophrenia group showed significantly lower concordance in recognizing all four intended emotions in music and significantly lower emotion intensity level than the healthy adult group did. Also, emotions with positive valence had relatively higher concordance rate than those with negative valence in the schizophrenia group. Further analysis within the schizophrenia group revealed that participants with positive symptoms showed significantly higher concordance rate in emotion identification than participants with negative symptoms; however, there was no significant difference in perceived intensity. The results of this study indicate that there is a disparity between adults with schizophrenia and healthy adults in identifying emotions in music. This information can be applied to develop targeted music interventions aimed at psychosocial rehabilitation of individuals with schizophrenia.