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Visuospatial encoding deficits and compensatory strategies in schizophrenia revealed by eye movement analysis during a working memory task

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Luca Cocchi ,
Francesca Bosisio ,
André Berchtold ,
Alina Orita ,
Martin Debbané ,
Stephen J. Wood  and
Françoise Schenk
Luca Cocchi*
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, c/o National Neuroscience Facility, Melbourne, Australia Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (CNP), Prilly, Switzerland Institute of Sport Science and Physical Education (ISSEP), University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Francesca Bosisio
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
André Berchtold
Affiliation:
Institute of Applied Mathematics (IMA), University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Alina Orita
Affiliation:
University Psychiatric Adult Department of Lausanne (DUPA), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Martin Debbané
Affiliation:
Service Médico-Pédagogique, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Stephen J. Wood
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, c/o National Neuroscience Facility, Melbourne, Australia
Françoise Schenk
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (CNP), Prilly, Switzerland Department of Physiology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
*
Dr Luca Cocchi, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne, c/o National Neuroscience Facility, 161 Barry Street, Carlton South 3053, Australia. Tel: (+61 3) 8344 1861; Fax: (+61 3) 9348 0469; E-mail: lcocchi@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

Objective:

To investigate scanpath abnormalities during the encoding of static stimuli in schizophrenia and their interaction with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) dysfunction.

Methods:

Outpatients with schizophrenia and control subjects were asked to encode a static pattern for subsequent recognition after a short delay. We measured the number of correct and incorrect choices. We also assessed the number and the distribution of fixations, the scanning time in specific regions of interest (ROIs) and the head movements during the encoding of the stimuli. The distributions of fixations and scanning time in definite ROIs during the discrimination of the correct pattern from the foils were also measured.

Results:

Patients recognised fewer correct patterns than controls. Correct trials in patients were characterised by a specific exploration of the central part of the stimulus during its presentation, whereas this feature was absent in incorrect trials. However, the scanning time and the numbers of fixations and head movements during encoding were similar in both groups and unrelated to recognition accuracy. In both groups, correct trials were associated with a selective exploration of the correct pattern amongst the six possibilities during recognition. Furthermore, patients gave more attention to incorrect patterns with a leftmost element identical to that of the correct response and also those approximating its global structure.

Conclusion:

Patients showed a VSWM deficit independent of oculomotor dysfunctions and head movements during encoding. Patients’ correct trials were related to specific scanning during encoding and discrimination phases. Analysis of these patterns suggests that patients try to compensate for reduced VSWM ability by using specific encoding strategies.

Keywords

encodingeye movementfixationscanpathschizophreniastrategyvisuospatialworking memory
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 75 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard

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