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Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
Published on: April 16, 2014
Enhanced top-down control during pursuit eye tracking in schizophrenia
Andreas Sprenger1, Peter Trillenberg, Matthias Nagel
1Department of Neurology, University Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany. Andreas.Sprenger@neuro.uni-luebeck.de
Summary
Schizophrenia patients show slower eye deceleration during visual target blanking, suggesting intact predictive mechanisms but impaired sensorimotor processing for eye tracking deficits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Eye tracking deficits are common in schizophrenia.
- Both sensorimotor processing and predictive mechanisms are implicated as causes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the roles of sensorimotor processing and predictive mechanisms in schizophrenia's eye tracking deficits.
- To differentiate between impaired prediction and sensorimotor transformation.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 20 schizophrenia patients and 20 healthy controls on visual pursuit tasks with predictable targets at varying speeds.
- Introduced target blanking intervals (666 or 1,000 ms) to assess predictive mechanisms.
- Measured eye deceleration after target extinction and residual eye velocity during blanking.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibited slower eye deceleration post-extinction, indicating greater reliance on predictive mechanisms.
- Residual gain during blanking was unimpaired, suggesting intact internal predictive models.
- Pursuit velocity gain was reduced in patients with visible targets, confirming sensorimotor deficits.
Conclusions:
- Predictive modeling appears relatively intact in schizophrenia.
- Impaired sensorimotor transformation of visual error signals, not predictive deficits, likely causes abnormal visual pursuit.
- Disruptions in extrastriate and sensorimotor systems may underlie these schizophrenia endophenotypes.
