ATTENTIONAL AND EYE TRACKING DEFICITS CORRELATE WITH NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Thirty patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia were asses sed for severity of schizophrenic symptoms using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and were tested on a Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and a smooth pursuit eye tracking task. Negative symptoms were s ignificantly correlated with eye tracking impairment (r = 0.43, p<0.01 ) and CPT deficits (r =0.67, p<0.001), but performance on neither task was correlated with positive symptoms. CPT performance and eye tracki ng performance were modestly correlated with each other (r=0.39, p<0.0 1) and CPT performance was found to be a stronger predictor of negativ e symptoms than eye tracking performance. These data indicate that neu rocognitive markers of vulnerability to schizophrenia are associated w ith negative rather than positive symptoms. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.