title: Word processing during reading sentences in patients with schizophrenia: evidences from the eyetracking technique.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study analyze the effect of word properties (i.e., word length, word frequency and word predictability) on the eye movement behavior of patients with schizophrenia (SZ) compared to age-matched controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  18 SZ patients and 40 age matched controls participated in the study. Eye movements were recorded during reading regular sentences by using the eyetracking technique. Eye movement analyses were performed using linear mixed models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of eye movements revealed that patients with SZ decreased the amount of single fixations, increased their total number of second pass fixations compared with healthy individuals (Controls). In addition, SZ patients showed an increase in gaze duration, compared to Controls. Interestingly, the effects of current word frequency and current word length processing were similar in Controls and SZ patients. The high rate of second pass fixations and its low rate in single fixation might reveal impairments in working memory when integrating neighbor words. In contrast, word frequency and length processing might require less complex mechanisms, which were functioning in SZ patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study measuring how patients with SZ process dynamically well-defined words embedded in regular sentences. The findings suggest that evaluation of the resulting changes in eye movement behavior may supplement current symptom-based diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Eléctrica (IIIE) (UNS-CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: gerardo.fernandez@uns.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: Clínica Privada Bahiense, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sapognikoff
authors.affiliation: FLENI, Department of Psychiatry, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guinjoan
authors.affiliation: Clínica Privada Bahiense, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Orozco
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Eléctrica (IIIE) (UNS-CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Agamennoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements / Q000592:standards; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011932:Reading; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012660:Semantics