Eye tracking dysfunction in schizophrenia: characterization of component eye movement abnormalities, diagnostic specificity, and the role of attention.
To characterize oculomotor components and diagnostic specificity of eye tracking abnormalities in schizophrenia, we examined a large consecutively admitted series of psychotic patients and matched controls. The most common abnormality in schizophrenic patients was low gain (slow) pursuit eye movements (47% of cases). Pursuit and saccadic eye movement abnormalities were no more severe in schizophrenic Ss than in those with affective psychoses, except that high rates of catch-up saccades were unique to schizophrenic Ss (17% of cases). These findings indicate that impaired pursuit eye movements are a major cause of eye tracking impairments in schizophrenia, that tracking dysfunctions commonly occur in affective psychoses, and that markedly high rates of catch-up saccades during eye tracking may be specific to schizophrenia.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213.
J A
JA
Sweeney
B A
BA
Clementz
G L
GL
Haas
M D
MD
Escobar
K
K
Drake
A J
AJ
Frances
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth; D012438:Saccades; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology