Abstract
Exploratory eye movement (EEM) dysfunction during visual recognition has been reported to be specific to schizophrenia. To elucidate the relationship between EEM dysfunction and individual schizophrenic symptoms, we conducted the EEM test, consisting of retention and comparison tasks, together with a detailed symptomatic evaluation using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in 76 schizophrenics. Total eye scanning length (TESL) during the retention task and responsive search score (RSS) during the comparison task were used as the EEM parameter. The subjects were dichotomized at the median of the TESL (good vs. poor TESL groups) and that of the RSS (good vs. poor RSS groups). The PANSS individual symptom scales were examined between the good and poor groups. We found that negative symptoms of PANSS were more severe in the poor TESL group and the poor RSS group compared with the good groups, but that positive symptoms did not differ between good and poor EEM groups. Given that EEM is controlled in the frontal lobe, these results suggest a functional relationship between negative symptoms and frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia.
