Deviant eye tracking in twins discordant for psychosis. A replication

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Genetics

Background:

• Smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEMs) are crucial for visual tracking.
• Abnormalities in SPEMs are observed in individuals with functional psychosis.
• Previous twin studies suggested a genetic contribution to SPEM variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate and validate earlier findings on the heritability of SPEM abnormalities.
• To investigate SPEMs in a younger cohort of twins discordant for functional psychosis.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs discordant for functional psychosis.
• Quantitative scoring of smooth-pursuit eye movement recordings.
• Analysis of concordance rates for SPEM abnormalities between MZ and DZ pairs.

Main Results:

• High concordance for SPEM dysfunctions was observed in MZ twin pairs.
• Moderate concordance for SPEM dysfunctions was observed in DZ twin pairs.
• Replication of earlier study findings with similar concordance levels.

Conclusions:

• The findings support a significant role of genetic factors in the variability of SPEMs.
• SPEM abnormalities are heritable traits potentially linked to genetic predispositions for functional psychosis.
• Replication strengthens the evidence for genetic underpinnings of oculomotor control deficits.