Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T20:20:50.965Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Understanding the Symptoms of Schizophrenia Using Visual Scan Paths

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mary L. Phillips*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London
Anthony S. David
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital, London
*
Mary Phillips, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, Camberwell, London SE5 8AZ

Abstract

Background

This paper highlights the role of the visual scan path as a physiological marker of information processing, while investigating positive symptomatology in schizophrenia.

Method

The current literature is reviewed using computer search facilities (Medline).

Results

Schizophrenics either scan or stare extensively, the latter related to negative symptoms. Schizophrenics particularly scan when viewing human faces.

Conclusions

Scan paths in schizophrenics are important when viewing meaningful stimuli such as human faces, because of the relationship between abnormal perception of stimuli and symptomatology in these subjects.

Type
Short papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1994 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baruch, I., Hemsley, D. R. & Gray, J. A. (1988) Differential performance of acute and chronic schizophrenics in a latent inhibition task. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 76, 598606.Google Scholar
Cramer, P., Weigman, P. & O'Neil, M. (1989) Schizophrenia and the perception of emotions. How accurately do schizophrenics judge the emotional states of others? British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 225228.Google Scholar
Gaebel, W., Ulrich, G. & Frick, K. (1987) Visuomotor performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls in a picture viewing task. Biological Psychiatry, 22, 12271237.Google Scholar
Gessler, S., Cutting, J., Frith, C. D., et al (1989) Schizophrenic inability to judge facial emotions. A controlled study. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 1929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, E., Coyle, S., Anderson, J., et al (1992) Eye movement response to a facial stimulus in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 31, 626629.Google Scholar
John, C. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1992) Gestalt perception in schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 241, 215221.Google Scholar
Kojima, T., Matsushima, E., Ando, K., et al (1992) Exploratory eye movements and neuropsychological tests in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 18, 8595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maher, B. A. (1974) Delusional thinking and perceptual disorder. Journal of Individual Psychology, 30, 98113.Google ScholarPubMed
Matsushima, E., Kojima, T., Ohbayashi, S., et al (1992) Exploratory eye movements in schizophrenic patients and patients with frontal lobe lesions. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 241, 210214.Google Scholar
Noton, D. & Stark, L. (1971) Eye movements and visual perception. Scientific American, 224, 3543.Google Scholar
Patterson, K. E. & Baddeley, A. D. (1977) When face recognition fails. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 3, 406417.Google Scholar
Radant, A. D. & Hommer, D. W. (1992) A quantitative analysis of saccades and smooth pursuit during visual pursuit tracking. A comparison of schizophrenics with normals and substance-abusing controls. Schizophrenia Research, 6, 225235.Google Scholar
Rizzo, M. & Hurtig, R. (1987) Looking but not seeing: attention, perception and eye movements in simultanagnosia. Neurology, 37, 16421648.Google Scholar
Shiffrin, R. M. & Schneider, W. (1989) Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84, 127190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, A. W., Ellis, H. D., Szulecka, T. K., et al (1990) Face processing impairments and delusional misidentification. Behavioural Neurology, 3, 153168.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.