ANTISACCADES AND SMOOTH-PURSUIT EYE TRACKING AND SCHIZOTYPY

Background: Eye tracking deficits are one of a few widely validated be havioral markers of risk for schizophrenia. Recently, it has been prop osed that antisaccade performance may also constitute a marker of schi zophrenia risk. This study investigated whether eye tracking and antis accade deficits could be found in another population with putative lia bility to schizophrenia-nonclinical subjects with elevated scores on a psychometric index of perceptual aberrations. Methods: Subjects were 55 university students who received either high or normal scores on th e Perceptual Aberration Scale, a measure of schizotypy indexing body i mage and perceptual distortions. Subjects completed a smooth pursuit e ye tracking task and an antisaccade task. Eye movements were monitored using an infrared limbus tracker. Results: Subjects with high Percept ual Aberration Scale scores (putative ''schizotypes'') had lower pursu it quality and a lower percentage correct on the antisaccade task than the controls. The 2 groups did not differ in antisaccade or error lat encies. The increase in antisaccade errors in the schizotypes was acco unted for almost entirely by an increase in perseverative errors, but virtually no difference between groups on random errors. Antisaccade p erformance was significantly related to pursuit quality. Conclusions: Subjects with elevated Perceptual Aberration Scale scores have perform ance deficits on oculomotor tasks that have been linked to latent liab ility to schizophrenia, namely, smooth pursuit and antisaccade perform ance. The antisaccade errors in the schizotype group were primarily pe rseverations, a behavioral pattern often associated with frontal lobe dysfunction and observed in the performance of schizophrenic patients.