Saccadic eye movement applications for psychiatric disorders

OBJECTIVE The study presented here analyzed the patterns of relationship between oculomotor performance and psychopathology, focusing on depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety disorder. METHODS Scientific articles published from 1967 to 2013 in the PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, Cochrane, and SciELO databases were reviewed. RESULTS Saccadic eye movement appears to be heavily involved in psychiatric diseases covered in this review via a direct mechanism. The changes seen in the execution of eye movement tasks in patients with psychopathologies of various studies confirm that eye movement is associated with the cognitive and motor system. CONCLUSION Saccadic eye movement changes appear to be heavily involved in the psychiatric disorders covered in this review and may be considered a possible marker of some disorders. The few existing studies that approach the topic demonstrate a need to improve the experimental paradigms, as well as the methods of analysis. Most of them report behavioral variables (latency/reaction time), though electrophysiological measures are absent.