Eye-tracking dysfunction in the affective psychoses and schizophrenia

Smooth pursuit eye movements to a sinusoidally moving target were recorded using the electro-oculogram in 49 subjects with bipolar disorder, 19 with major depressive disorder and 61 with definite schizophrenia, and compared with 145 normal controls. The signals were analysed in the frequency domain...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 1992-08, Vol.22 (3), p.573-580
Main Authors: Muir, Walter J., St Clair, David M., Blackwood, Douglas H. R., Roxburgh, Hilary M., Marshall, Ian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Age Factors
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Bipolar Disorder
Eye Movements - drug effects
Eye Movements - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mood disorders
Original Articles
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Schizophrenia
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Smooth pursuit eye movements to a sinusoidally moving target were recorded using the electro-oculogram in 49 subjects with bipolar disorder, 19 with major depressive disorder and 61 with definite schizophrenia, and compared with 145 normal controls. The signals were analysed in the frequency domain to yield a signal to noise ratio that is known to relate to accuracy of smooth pursuit. Smooth pursuit was found to be significantly poorer in schizophrenics than in bipolars, major depressed or controls. Eye-tracking performance was independent of the effects of neuroleptics, tricyclic antidepressants or lithium, and was not altered by the severity of depression in the affective psychoses. There was a small, but significant worsening of smooth pursuit with age in controls and schizophrenics, but this did not account for the group differences. The results support the view that among the major psychoses eye-tracking dysfunction is specific to schizophrenia.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291700038034