Saccadic eye movements in schizophrenic patients.
The nature of saccadic abnormalities in schizophrenia was investigated in three different paradigms: (1) the visually guided saccade; (2) the antisaccade; and (3) the remembered saccade paradigm. Subjects comprised 14 schizophrenic patients and 14 normal volunteers. Deficits in the schizophrenic group were observed in the antisaccade and remembered saccade tasks, both of which were characterized by increased latency and reduced gain. Moreover, in the antisaccade task, schizophrenic patients showed an increased number of errors compared with control subjects. Saccadic abnormalities in the patients were correlated with impaired performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. These data suggest that schizophrenic patients have difficulty in inhibiting reflexive saccades and in producing voluntary saccades. The implications of these findings for a prefrontal cortex dysfunction involved in oculomotor control in schizophrenia are discussed.
Karoumi
B
B
Institut de Psychopathologie Cognitive et Neurobiologique, Jeune Equipe 1882 (Université Lyon I), Hôpital du Vinatier, Lyon-Bron, France.
Ventre-Dominey
J
J
Vighetto
A
A
Dalery
J
J
d'Amato
T
T
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*