Association of Abnormal Eye Gaze Pattern with Magical Ideation during Reality Evaluation in Patients with Schizophrenia / 대한정신분열병학회지

OBJECTIVES: Magical ideation refers to belief in forms of causation that by conventional standards are invalid, and is considered to be one of prodromal psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between magical ideation and eye gaze pattern in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Eye gaze data were recorded in 23 patients with schizophrenia and 23 healthy controls while performing the reality evaluation task, in which participants should judge the realness of real or unreal pictures. RESULTS: Compared to healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed decreased fixation, saccade and area of interest (AOI) fixation counts, and reduced scanpath length. Magical Ideation Scale score in patients with schizophrenia showed negative correlation with the scanpath length in the real condition and the AOI fixation count in the unreal condition. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia show restricted visual scanning during reality evaluation, and their restricted visual scanning may play an important role in the magical ideation.

Characteristics of Eye Gaze Distribution of Patients with Schizophrenia during the Emotion-Provoking Conversation with Several Virtual Persons / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Impairment of social cognition affects the social functioning of patients with schizophrenia. For example, patients with schizophrenia have been shown to display abnormal eye contact during a one-on-one conversation. This study was designed to investigate the behavioral characteristics of patients with schizophrenia while talking with two people. METHODS: Twenty six patients with schizophrenia and 26 normal controls performed virtual reality conversation tasks, in which they talked with main and assistant avatars under positive or negative emotional conditions. While listening and speaking, the durations of eye gaze with the main and minor avatars were measured from the head orientations of the participants using a positional tracker. RESULTS: Compared with normal controls, the patient group showed a shorter duration of gaze towards the main avatar and a longer duration of gaze towards the assistant avatar. This pattern was more apparent in the negative situation. CONCLUSION: The results suggest a defect in social cognition, in which patients with schizophrenia fail to distribute their gaze appropriately during a conversation with more than one other person.