Schizophrenia patients and their relatives have
saccadic abnormalities characterized by problems inhibiting
a response. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and its
associated circuitry ostensibly mediate inhibition and
support correct delayed response performance. In this context,
two components of delayed response task performance are
of interest: memory saccade metrics and error saccades
made during the delay. To evaluate these variables, an
ocular motor delayed response task was presented to 23
schizophrenia patients, 25 of their first-degree biological
relatives, and 19 normal subjects. The measure that best
differentiated groups was an increased frequency of error
saccades generated during the delay by schizophrenia subjects
and relatives. Decreased memory saccade gain also characterized
patients and relatives. The similar pattern of results
demonstrated by the patients with schizophrenia and their
relatives suggests that performance on ocular motor delayed
response tasks, either alone or in combination with other
saccadic variables, may provide useful information about
neural substrates associated with a liability for developing
schizophrenia.