title: Shared and distinct oculomotor function deficits in schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.
abstract: Detailed analysis of oculomotor function phenotypes in antisaccade, smooth eye pursuit, and active fixation tasks was performed in a sample of 44 patients with schizophrenia, 34 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and 45 matched healthy controls. A common pattern of performance deficits in both schizophrenia and OCD emerged including higher antisaccade error rate, increased latency for corrective antisaccades, as well as higher rates of unwanted saccades in smooth eye pursuit compared to healthy controls. This common pattern could be related to the dysfunction of a network of cognitive control that is present in both disorders, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, only patients with schizophrenia showed a specific increase for correct antisaccade mean latency and the intrasubject variability of latency for error prosaccades as well as a decrease in the gain for smooth eye pursuit, suggesting a specific deficit in saccadic motor control and the frontal eye field in schizophrenia that is not present in OCD. A specific deficit in fixation stability (increased frequency of unwanted saccades during active fixation) was observed only for OCD patients pointing to a deficit in the frontostriatal network controlling fixation. This deficit was pronounced for OCD patients receiving additional antipsychotic medication. In conclusion, oculomotor function showed shared and distinct patterns of deviance for schizophrenia and OCD pointing toward shared and specific neurobiological substrates for these psychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Angeliki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Damilou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Sotirios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Apostolakis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Eleftheria
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thrapsanioti
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.|Department of Psychiatry, National University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Theleritis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Control, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.|Department of Psychiatry, National University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smyrnis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth; D012438:Saccades; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive control; Eye movements; Eye tracking; Oculomotor; Psychiatric; Schizophrenia