Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T12:06:41.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Saccadic abnormalities in psychotic patients. I. Neuroleptic-free psychotic patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

T. J. Crawford
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Neuroscience, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester School of Medicine, Leicester Royal Infirmary; Division of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts.
B. Haeger
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Neuroscience, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester School of Medicine, Leicester Royal Infirmary; Division of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts.
C. Kennard
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Neuroscience, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester School of Medicine, Leicester Royal Infirmary; Division of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts.
M. A. Reveley
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Neuroscience, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School; Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester School of Medicine, Leicester Royal Infirmary; Division of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts.

Synopsis

Most of the previous research reporting abnormalities of rapid re-fixation eye movements (saccades) in patients with schizophrenia has used patients receiving neuroleptic medication. In this study non-neuroleptically medicated schizophrenics were compared with other psychiatric patients using a variety of saccadic paradigms to determine the specificity of saccadic dysfunction. The patient groups consisted of schizophrenics (N = 18), bipolar affectives (N = 18), anxiety neurotics (N = 10) and normal controls (N = 31), none of whom had received neuroleptic medication for the preceding 6 months. Four behavioural paradigms, reflexive, predictive, remembered and ANTI were used to elicit saccades. The primary abnormality in the schizophrenic group was a significantly increased rate of distractibility in the ANTI (saccades made towards the target rather than in an opposite direction) and REM (saccades made prior to the imperative cue) paradigms. The major neuropsychological variable predictive of these errors was Wisconsin card sort perseverative errors. These data, in conjunction with findings from previous neurological research, would seem to provide converging evidence towards dysfunction of prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn, Revised. APA: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1984 a). Schedule for the Assessment of Negative symptoms (SANS). University of Iowa Press: Iowa City.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1984 b). Schedule for the Assessment of Positive symptoms (SAPS). University of Iowa Press: Iowa City.Google Scholar
Crawford, T. J., Goodrich, S., Henderson, L. & Kennard, C. (1989). Predictive responses in Parkinson's disease: manual keypresses and saccadic eye movements to regular stimulus events. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 52, 10331042.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, T. J., Haegar, B., Kennard, C., Reveley, M. A. & Henderson, L. (1995 a). Saccadic abnormalities in psychotic patients II: the role of neuroleptic treatment. Psychological Medicine 25, 473483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, T. J., Puri, B. K., Nijran, K. S., Jones, B., Kennard, C. & Lewis, S. W. (1995 b). Abnormal saccadic distractibility in patients with schizophrenia: a 99mTC-HMPAO SPET study. Psychological Medicine 25, (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Antona, R., Baron, J. C., Samson, Y., Serdaru, M., Viader, F., Agid, Y. & Cambier, J. (1985). Subcortical dementia, frontal cortex hypometabolism detected by positron emission tomography in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain 108, 785799.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diefendorf, A. R. & Dodge, R. (1908). An experimental study of the ocular reactions of the insane from photographic records. Brain 31, 451489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. & McHugh, P. R. (1975). ‘Mini-mental State’, a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research 12, 189198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukishima, J., Fukishima, K., Chiba, T., Tanaka, S., Yamishita, I. & Kato, M. (1988). Disturbances of voluntary control of saccadic eye movements in schizophrenic patients. Biological Psychiatry 23, 670677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukishima, J., Fukishima, K., Chiba, T., Tanaka, S., Yamashita, I. & Kato, M. (1990 a). Voluntary control of saccadic eye movements in patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Journal of Psychiatry Research 24, 2944.Google Scholar
Fukishima, J., Fukishima, K., Nobuyuki, M. & Yamashita, I. (1990 b). Further analysis of the control of voluntary saccadic eye movements in schizophrenic patients. Biological Psychiatry 28, 943958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glue, P. (1991). The pharmacology of saccadic eye movements. Journal of Psychopharmacology 5, 377387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guitton, D., Buchtel, H. A. & Douglas, R. M. (1985). Frontal lobe lesions in man cause difficulties in suppressing reflexive glances and in generating goal directed saccades. Experimental Brain Research 58, 455472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heaton, R. K. (1981). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Manual. Psychological Resources: Odessa, Fla.Google Scholar
Henderson, L., Crawford, T. J. & Kennard, C. (1995). Neuropsychology of eye movement abnormalities in schizophrenia. In The Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia (ed. Pantelis, C., Nelson, H. E. and Barnes, T. R. E.). John Wiley & Sons: Chichester. (In the press.)Google Scholar
Hikosaka, O. & Wurtz, R. H. (1985). Modification of saccadic eye movements GABA-related substances. I. Effect of muscimol and bicucculine in monkey superior colliculus. Journal of Neurophysiology 53, 266291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iacono, W. G. (1988). Eye movement abnormalities in schizophrenic and affective disorders. In Neuropsychology of Eye Movements (ed. Johnston, C. W. and Pirozzolo, F. J.), pp. 115145. LEA: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Iacono, W. G., Peloquin, L. G., Lumry, A. E., Valentine, R. H. & Tuason, V. B. (1982). Eye tracking in patients with unipolar and bipolar affective disorders in remission. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 91, 3544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennard, C., Crawford, T. J. & Henderson, L. (1994). Abnormalities of saccadic eye movements in neurological and psychiatric disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 57, 881885.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasker, A. G., Zee, D. S., Hain, T. C., Folstein, S. E. & Singer, H. S. (1987). Saccades in Huntington's disease: initiation defects and distractibility. Neurology 37, 364370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lueck, C. J., Tanyeri, S., Crawford, T. J., Henderson, L. & Kennard, C. (1992). Saccadic eye movements in Parkinson's disease. I. Delayed saccades. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 45A, 193210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, H. (1982) National Adult Reading Test. NFER–Nelson: Windsor, Berks.Google Scholar
Nakashima, Y., Momose, T., Sano, I., Katayama, S., Nakajima, T., Niwa, S. I. & Matsushita, M. (1994). Cortical control of saccades in normal and schizophrenic subjects: a PET study using a task-evoked rCBF paradigm. Schizophrenia Research 12, 259264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Driscoll, G. A., Alpert, N. M., Matthysse, S., Levy, D. & Holzman, P. S. (1994). The neural substrates of the antisaccade performance implicate oculomotor circuit dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 11, 149.Google Scholar
Paus, T. (1991). Two modes of central gaze fixation maintenance and oculomotor distractibility in schizophrenics. Schizophrenia Research 5, 145152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pierrot-Deseilligny, C. H., Rivaud, S., Pillon, B., Fournier, E. & Agid, Y. (1989). Lateral visually-guided saccades in progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain 112, 471487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pierrot-Deseilligny, C. H., Rivaud, S., Gaymaud, B. & Agid, Y. (1991). Cortical control of reflexive visually-guided saccades. Brain 114, 14731485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raven, J. C. & Court, J. H. (1965). Advanced Progressive Matrices. H. K. Lewis & Co.: London.Google Scholar
Rosse, R. B., Schwartz, B. L., Kim, S. Y. & Deutsch, S. I. (1993). Correlation between antisaccades and Wisconsin card sorting test performance in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 150, 333335.Google ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L. & Endicott, J. (1975). Schedule for Affective Disorders – Schizophrenia (SADS). Biometrics Research Division, New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York, NYGoogle Scholar
Thaker, G. K., Nguyen, J. A. & Tamminga, C. A. (1989). Increased saccadic distractibility in tardive dyskinesia; functional evidence for subcortical GABA dysfunction. Biological Psychiatry 25, 4559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. & Zec, R. F. (1986). Physiologic dysfunction of the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. I. Regional cerebral blood flow evidence. Archives of General Psychiatry 43, 114125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar