title: Fixation stability among schizophrenia patients.
abstract: Twenty-four schizophrenia and 26 normal subjects were presented targets for fixation at +/-17.5 degrees and 0 degrees of visual angle. The manner in which stimuli were presented allowed us to evaluate for the presence of gaze-evoked and rebound drifts, and for frequency of saccades at both eccentric and central fixation. Schizophrenia patients and normal subjects had remarkably similar performance regardless of stimulus condition. These results suggest that the gaze-holding apparatus is functioning normally among schizophrenia patients, a finding that is not easily attributable to either medication effects and/or low statistical power. These data are another indication that schizophrenia patients have specific, not general, abnormalities of ocular motor control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, Calif., USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kissler
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Clementz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*