Protocol Details

Internal Monitoring of Eye Movement in Schizophrenia

This study is NOT currently recruiting participants.

Summary | Eligibility | Citations | Contacts

Summary

Number	10-EI-0016
Sponsoring Institute	National Eye Institute (NEI)
Recruitment Detail	Type: Recruitment has not started Gender: Male & Female Min Age: 18 Max Age: N/A
Referral Letter Required	Yes
Population Exclusion(s)	Children
Special Instructions	Currently Not Provided
Keywords	Saccadic Eye Movements; Schizophrenia
Recruitment Keyword(s)	Schizophrenia; Healthy Volunteer; HV
Condition(s)	Schizophrenia
Investigational Drug(s)	None
Investigational Device(s)	None
Intervention(s)	None
Supporting Site	National Eye Institute

Background:

- Researchers are studying how humans are able to move our eyes to a remembered region even when the target has disappeared. The ability to do this suggests that the brain can keep track of where the eyes have looked, without an external target for continued reference. This is called corollary discharge.

- Other research has indicated that patients with schizophrenia might have difficulty monitoring their eye movements. The corollary discharge process may be defective in patients with schizophrenia, and perhaps delayed in time. Researchers have developed a test to examine this possibility in the hope of learning more about schizophrenia and eye movement.

Objectives:

- To assess whether there is a defect in internal monitoring of eye movements in patients with schizophrenia.

Eligibility:

- Individuals over 18 years of age who are able to give informed consent and are able to concentrate on a 20-minute task that involves following projected targets and moving their eyes to remembered locations.

- Individuals with schizophrenia will be recruited from an ongoing NIH protocol studying schizophrenia.

- In addition healthy will be recruited for this protocol.

Design:

- Researchers will check participants' vision in each eye, and ask them to sit at a machine that measures eye movement in order to complete research tasks. Researchers will monitor participants' ability to complete these tasks.

- The first task involves simply following a target that jumps to different parts of the screen.

- The second is a 2-step task, in which a participant is asked to look at two separate light targets and then look at the remembered target positions when the lights are off.

- This protocol does not provide treatment. Participants will remain under the care of their own physicians during participation in this protocol.

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Eligibility

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

1. Adult subjects over 18 years of age who are able to give informed consent and are able to concentrate on a task for 20 minutes which involves following projected targets and moving their eyes to remembered locations.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

1. Large refractive error requiring strong glasses. Glasses may interfere with the video eye movement recording system. However, participants may wear contact lenses. Subjects with a history of eye disease affecting vision or eye movements will also be excluded.

2. Participants with guardians will be excluded.

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Citations:

Andreasen NC, Nopoulos P, O'Leary DS, Miller DD, Wassink T, Flaum M. Defining the phenotype of schizophrenia: cognitive dysmetria and its neural mechanisms.Biol Psychiatry. 1999 Oct 1;46(7):908-20.

Campanella S, Guerit JM. How clinical neurophysiology may contribute to the understanding of a psychiatric disease such as schizophrenia. Neurophysiol Clin. 2009 Feb;39(1):31-9. Epub 2009 Jan 9.

Duhamel JR, Goldberg ME, Fitzgibbon EJ, Sirigu A, Grafman J. Saccadic dysmetria in a patient with a right frontoparietal lesion. The importance of corollary discharge for accurate spatial behaviour. Brain. 1992 Oct;115 ( Pt 5):1387-402.

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Contacts:

Principal Investigator	Referral Contact	For more information:
Edmond J. FitzGibbon, M.D. National Eye Institute (NEI) National Institutes of Health Building 49 Room 2A50 49 Convent Drive Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4435 (301) 496-7144 ejf@lsr.nei.nih.gov	Edmond J. FitzGibbon, M.D. National Eye Institute (NEI) National Institutes of Health Building 49 Room 2A50 49 Convent Drive Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4435 (301) 496-7144 ejf@lsr.nei.nih.gov	Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office Building 61 10 Cloister Court Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754 Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222 TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free) Fax: 301-480-9793 prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Clinical Trials Number:

NCT01011101

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