Correlates between neurological soft signs and saccadic parameters in schizophrenia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Neurological Soft Signs (NSS) and oculomotor saccadic impairments are prevalent in schizophrenia.
• The relationship between NSS and saccadic performance in schizophrenia has not been previously investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the correlation between NSS and oculomotor saccadic paradigms in patients with schizophrenia.
• To determine if NSS scores correlate with specific saccadic task parameters.

Main Methods:

• 78 schizophrenia patients and 41 healthy controls underwent testing for NSS.
• Saccadic tasks (prosaccades, predictive, memory-guided) were performed using infrared oculometry.
• Correlations between NSS scores and saccadic latencies, error rates, and anticipatory saccades were analyzed.

Main Results:

• No correlations were observed in healthy controls.
• In schizophrenia patients, NSS total and motor coordination scores correlated with prosaccade and memory-guided saccade latencies.
• NSS scores also correlated with the rate of anticipated predictive saccades and errors in memory-guided saccades.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest a common pathological mechanism underlies NSS and saccadic impairments in schizophrenia.
• These results indicate partially overlapping neural substrates for NSS and saccades in schizophrenia patients.
• This study provides novel insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia symptoms.