Exploratory eye movement dysfunctions in patients with schizophrenia: possibility as a discriminator for schizophrenia.
In our previous studies patients with schizophrenia and their parents had less frequent eye fixations and a more limited area of inspection than normal controls while freely viewing stationary S-shaped figures. The present study attempted to discriminate schizophrenics from non-schizophrenics using exploratory eye movements. Two groups (A and B) were formed, each comprising 30 schizophrenic and 70 non-schizophrenic subjects (10 each of patients with depression, methamphetamine psychosis, alcohol psychosis, anxiety disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, frontal lobe lesions and healthy normal controls). Discriminant analysis was performed on group A to obtain a discriminant. The validity of applying this discriminant to group B was investigated. By focussing on exploratory eye movements, schizophrenics could be discriminated from non-schizophrenics with a sensitivity of 76.7% and a specificity of 81.4%. These results show that exploratory eye movements are a useful discriminator for schizophrenia.
Matsushima
E
E
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan. em.psyc@med.tmd.ac.jp
Kojima
T
T
Ohta
K
K
Obayashi
S
S
Nakajima
K
K
Kakuma
T
T
Ando
H
H
Ando
K
K
Toru
M
M
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010641:Phenotype; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity