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The relationship between smooth pursuit eye movement impairment and psychological measures of psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Robert D. Coursey ,
Richard W. Lees  and
Larry J. Siever
Robert D. Coursey*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Allen Park VA Medical Center and Bronx VA Medical Center, USA
Richard W. Lees
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Allen Park VA Medical Center and Bronx VA Medical Center, USA
Larry J. Siever
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Allen Park VA Medical Center and Bronx VA Medical Center, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Robert D. Coursey, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742. USA.
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Synopsis

Two hundred and eighty-four male college volunteers were screened for smooth pursuit eyetracking deficiencies, a commonly reported concomitant of schizophrenia. A sample of 36 subjects, weighted with poor eyetrackers, was brought into the National Institute of Mental Health laboratory and retested on electro-oculogram and infrared tracking procedures. They were also administered psychological tests which assessed nine dimensions relevant to schizophrenic, neuropsychological, and affective disorders. In the area of schizophrenia-like symptoms, measures of attention deficits, stimulation avoidance, and identity problems predicted poor eyetracking for the whole sample. Using the poor eyetracking subjects alone (N = 24), interpersonal withdrawal was also significantly related to poor performance but not stimulation avoidance. In the neuropsychological area, measures of attention control and perceptual-motor dysfunction for the total sample, and perceptual problems and general intellectual decrements for the poor eyetrackers were significantly related to poor performance. There was no relationship between measures of affective dysfunction and poor eyetracking.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 343 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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