Phenothiazine effects on cerebral-evoked potentials and eye movements in acute schizophrenics

An investigation was made of the effects of phenothiazine medication on the averaged visual-evoked potentials (AVEP) and on eye movements in hospitalized, young, acute schizophrenic patients. These results were compared with those of normal subjects who were not given medication. AVEP measures included maximum amplitude (Am), frequency of peaks (FOP'S), variability (V) and peak latencies for an early negative peak (N1) and a later positive peak (P6). Eye movement measures included percent of time looking at a stimulus slide, percent of time looking at a figure on the slide, the number of fixations and the percent of cells entered in which fixations occurred. For schizophrenics off and on phenothiazine medication, there were no consistently significant drug effects on any measure except frequency of peaks. Schizophrenics compared to normals had lower amplitudes, greater frequency of peaks, greater variability and lower eye movement scores.