IngentaConnect Exploratory Eye Movements to Pictures in Childhood-Onset Schizoph...

Authors: Karatekin C.¹; Asarnow R.F.²

Source: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Volume 27, Number 1, February 1999 , pp. 35-49(15)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

We investigated exploratory eye movements to thematic pictures in schizophrenic, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and normal children. For each picture, children were asked three questions varying in amount of structure. We tested if schizophrenic children would stare or scan extensively and if their scan patterns were differentially affected by the question. Time spent viewing relevant and irrelevant regions, fixation duration (an estimate of processing rate), and distance between fixations (an estimate of breadth of attention) were measured. ADHD children showed a trend toward shorter fixations than normals on the question requiring the most detailed analysis. Schizophrenic children looked at fewer relevant, but not more irrelevant, regions than normals. They showed a tendency to stare more when asked to decide what was happening but not when asked to attend to specific regions. Thus, lower levels of visual attention (e.g., basic control of eye movements) were intact in schizophrenic children. In contrast, they had difficulty with top-down control of selective attention in the service of self-guided behavior.

Keywords: Schizophrenia; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); visual-spatial attention; scene perception; eye movements

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024. Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455; karat004 2: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024

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Exploratory Eye Movements to Pictures in Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)