Studies on exploratory eye movement.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Eye movements offer insights into brain activity and consciousness.
• Schizophrenia is characterized by impaired exploratory eye movements.
• Depressive patients exhibit tension and habituation, unlike schizophrenic patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate eye movement patterns in schizophrenia.
• To develop an objective indicator for schizophrenia using eye movements.
• To explore the relationship between eye movements and brain structures.

Main Methods:

• Pioneering studies on closed-eye and exploratory eye movements.
• Development of the eye camera and Responsive Search Score (RSS).
• WHO-led research on schizophrenic patients across ethnicities, replicated findings.
• Clinical molecular genetic and brain imaging studies correlating RSS with brain regions.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenic patients show a scarcity of exploratory eye movement and lack habituation.
• RSS reflects schizophrenia susceptibility and links to chromosome 22q.
• RSS correlates with the volume of specific right-sided brain regions (parietal eye field, frontal eye field, supplementary eye field, inferior frontal gyrus).

Conclusions:

• Prof. Kojima's research established eye movements as a potential biomarker for schizophrenia.
• An apparatus monitoring eye movements demonstrates high diagnostic sensitivity (75%) and specificity (80%) for schizophrenia.
• This technology holds promise for future clinical application in schizophrenia diagnosis.