Disturbed smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements in schizophrenia.
Smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements of schizophrenic patients were examined. In a pendulum (0.5 Hz) tracking task schizophrenic inpatients had a slightly lower smooth pursuit gain than outpatients and controls, who showed no significant differences. The number of saccades, counter-saccades and velocity arrests occurring in a 20 s tracking epoque was the same in patients and controls, but patients made larger saccades. When tracking a stepping target by saccadic eye movements, schizophrenic inpatients, and to a lesser extent outpatients, exhibited longer reaction times than controls and had a higher incidence of "non-fixation" (saccades away from the target while the target is stationary). Schizophrenic patients also showed a significantly larger proportion of dysmetric saccades (undershooting the target). While similar changes of reaction time and non-fixation score were observed in manic-depressives and alcoholics, dysmetria was more often found in schizophrenics and possibly constitutes the expression of a specific impairment of attention.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000187:drug effects; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000187:drug effects; D012438:Saccades / Q000187:drug effects; D012562:Schizophrenia, Disorganized / Q000523:psychology; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000523:psychology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents