Abstract
To characterize oculomotor components and diagnostic specificity of eye tracking abnormalities in schizophrenia, we examined a large consecutively admitted series of psychotic patients and matched controls. The most common abnormality in schizophrenic patients was low gain (slow) pursuit eye movements (47% of cases). Pursuit and saccadic eye movement abnormalities were no more severe in schizophrenic Ss than in those with affective psychoses, except that high rates of catch-up saccades were unique to schizophrenic Ss (17% of cases). These findings indicate that impaired pursuit eye movements are a major cause of eye tracking impairments in schizophrenia, that tracking dysfunctions commonly occur in affective psychoses, and that markedly high rates of catch-up saccades during eye tracking may be specific to schizophrenia.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 222-230 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Abnormal Psychology |
Volume | 103 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1994 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry