ABNORMAL VISUAL SCAN PATHS - A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MARKER OF DELUSIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

The role of the visual scan path as a psychophysiological marker of vi sual attention has been highlighted previously (Phillips and David, 19 94). We investigated information processing in schizophrenic patients with severe delusions and again when the delusions were subsiding usin g visual scan path measurements. We aimed to demonstrate a specific de ficit in processing human faces in deluded subjects by relating this t o abnormal viewing strategies. Scan paths were measured in six deluded and five non-deluded schizophrenics (matched for medication and negat ive symptoms), and nine age-matched normal controls. Deluded subjects had abnormal scan paths in a recognition task, fixating non-feature ar eas significantly more than controls, but were equally accurate. Re-te sting after improvement in delusional conviction revealed fewer group differences. The results suggest state-dependent abnormal information processing in schizophrenics when deluded, with reliance on less-salie nt visual information for decision-making. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B .V.