Visuomotor behavior in schizophrenia.

Abstract

The diagnosis of "positive" schizophrenia relies heavily on reported symptoms. Behavioral signs, however, play an important role in "negative" schizophrenia. Their advantage is that they can be assessed objectively and quantitatively. Thus, their measurement can improve both the precision of the diagnostic process and the phenomenological basis of biologically oriented research. The assessment of various types of visuomotor behavior (e.g., eye fixations, saccades, smooth-pursuit eye movements) with different functions and anatomic organization, and of their trait- and state-related disturbances in schizophrenia are an example of this kind of research. Whether analyzed from an interactional or an individual perspective, visuomotor behavior is best understood within a broader neurobiological frame of reference. In combination with brain imaging techniques it is an important tool with which to explore brain behavior relationships in schizophrenia and other related psychoses.