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Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements of Schizophrenics and Normal People Under Stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

V. Březinová  and
R. E. Kendell
V. Březinová
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
R. E. Kendell
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
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Summary

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Eye movements while watching an oscillating pendulum were recorded in 24 chronic schizophrenics and 24 matched normal controls. As others have reported previously, abnormal tracking movements were significantly commoner in the schizophrenics. However, in a series of experiments with normal subjects it was found that conditions designed to distract attention, or to produce declining arousal and attention, produced abnormal tracking movements indistinguishable from those observed in schizophrenics. As chronic schizophrenics are known to perform badly on a variety of psychomotor tasks and there is evidence that this is due to impaired attention or heightened distractibility, it seems likely that these same factors are responsible for their poor eye-tracking performance.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 130 , Issue 1 , January 1977 , pp. 59 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1977 

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