Selective effects of antipsychotic medications on eye-tracking performance in schizophrenia

John A. Sweeley, Gretchen L. Haas, Shuhua Li, Peter J. Weiden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

The potential impact of antipsychotic medications on eye-tracking impairments in schizophrenia has received little systematic attention. To address this issue, eye-tracking performance was studied in 19 neuroliptic-naive schizophrenic patients, 22 previously medicated schizophrenic patients who had not received antipsychotic drugs for at least 28 days, and 52 nonpsychiatric control subjects. Impairments were similar but generally more severe in previously treated than in neuroleptic-naive patients. An attention-facilitation manipulation improved eye-tracking performance in all groups. Ten neuroleptic-naive and 14 previously treated cases were retested after at least 3 weeks of treatment with antipsychotic medication. Short-term treatment with neuroleptics improved certain attention-related aspects of eye tracking involving saccadic eye movements such as anticipatory saccades, but it did not alter pursuit eye movements.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)185-198
Number of pages14
JournalPsychiatry research
Volume54
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1994

Keywords

  • Neuroleptic medication
  • attention
  • eye movements
  • oculomotor activity
  • saccades

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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