Impaired performance in a saccadic tracking task in schizophrenic patients.

The performance of schizophrenic patients in a task which requires a sequence of saccades guided by visuospatial cues is reported. A previous study recording eye movements determined a highly increased number of fixations necessary for this task in acute schizophrenic patients compared with normal controls. The performance of normal control subjects of different age groups and the correlation between the performance in the tracking task and the results of a clinical psychological test battery are described. Schizophrenic patients in a partly remitted state and in a remitted or mildly chronic state performed this task worse than matched control subjects; this was particularly indicated by the time score. The relation to the lifetime dosage of neuroleptic medication is considered.