title: Exploratory eye movement dysfunctions in patients with schizophrenia: possibility as a discriminator for schizophrenia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan. em.psyc@med.tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Obayashi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakuma
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toru
mesh_terms: 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