SCHIZOTYPAL TRAITS, ATTEIfTION AND EYE MOVEMEHTS

Larrison, Abigail L., Carolyn F. Ferrante, Kevin A. Briand, Anne B. Sereno: Schizotypal Traits, Attention and Eye Movements. Prog. Neuro-Psychopharmacol. & Biol. Psychiat. 2000,24, pp. 357-372. 02000 Elscvicr S&n= Inc. 1. Subjects demonstrating high, average, or low schizotypal traits participated in saccade tasks of eye movements and attention including: a simple saccade task, an antisaccade task, and/or a cued saccade task measuring both facilitatory effects of cuing and inhibition of return (IOR). 2. Subjects were recruited based on their scores on the Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cog&ions (RISC) and then were given Raine’s Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) (1991). 3. Subjects scoring high in schizotypy demonstrated increased errors on the voluntary eye movement task (antisaccade task) (p&05). Performance on the reflexive saccade task was not impaired in high compared to low schizotypals, but may have been enhanced as demonstrated by a negative correlation between scores on the SPQ and performance on this task. For the cued saccade task, there were no overall differences in cueing effects between schizotypal groups, however there was a laterality difference between low versus high scoring schizotypal subjects. 4. These results indicate distinct differences in tasks of overt orienting (sac&e and antisaccade tasks) and covert orienting tasks (cued saccade task). The patterns of performance by our schizotypy subjects, including impaired voluntary saccade, enhanced reflexive saccade, and lateral&d performance on the cued saccade task, are consistent with the performance of schizophrenic patient populations. Thus, our study supports the previous findings of a physiological relationship between schizotypal personality and schizophrenia. Kev Words: attention, eye movement, personality, saccade, schizotypy, laterality m: antisaccade (AS), inhibition of return (IOR), left visual field (LVF), right visual field (RVF), response time (RT), reflection tracking system (RTS), Rust Inventory of Schizotypal Cognitions (RISC), saccade (S), Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA)