Reliability of a portable head-mounted eye tracking instrument for schizophrenia research

Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) abnormalities are some of the most consistently observed neurophysiological deficits associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. SPEM has been traditionally assessed by infrared or video oculography using laboratory-based fixed-display systems. With growing interest in using SPEM measures to define phenotypes in large-scale genetic studies, there is a need for measurement instruments that can be used in the field. Here we test the reliability of a portable, head-mounted display (HMD) eye movement recording system and compare it with a fixed-display system. We observed comparable, modest calibration changes across trials between the two systems. The between-methods reliability for the most often used measure of pursuit performance, maintenance pursuit gain, was high (ICC = 0.96). This result suggests that the portable device is comparable with a lab-based system, which makes possible the collection of eye movement data in community-based and multicenter familial studies of schizophrenia.

[1]  B. Fischer,et al.  A turn-key transportable eye-tracking instrument for clinical assessment , 2002, Behavoir research methods, instruments & computers.

[2]  R. Freedman,et al.  Anticipatory saccades during smooth pursuit eye movements and familial transmission of schizophrenia , 1998, Biological Psychiatry.

[3]  S Saida,et al.  Use of infrared TV cameras built into head-mounted display to measure torsional eye movements. , 2001, Japanese journal of ophthalmology.

[4]  D R Medoff,et al.  Smooth pursuit eye movements to extraretinal motion signals: deficits in relatives of patients with schizophrenia. , 1998, Archives of general psychiatry.

[5]  R. Buchanan,et al.  Does pursuit abnormality in schizophrenia represent a deficit in the predictive mechanism? , 1996, Psychiatry Research.

[6]  M. Mon-Williams,et al.  Binocular vision in a virtual world: visual deficits following the wearing of a head‐mounted display , 1993, Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians.

[7]  Robert W. Buchanan,et al.  Smooth pursuit eye movements to extra-retinal motion signals: deficits in patients with schizophrenia , 1999, Psychiatry Research.

[8]  B. Clementz,et al.  Smooth pursuit in schizophrenia: abnormalities of open- and closed-loop responses. , 1994, Psychophysiology.

[9]  Andrew T. Duchowski,et al.  Eye Tracking Methodology: Theory and Practice , 2003, Springer London.

[10]  E. Viirre,et al.  Remote medical consultation for vestibular disorders: technological solutions and case report. , 1997, Telemedicine journal : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association.

[11]  J. Ware,et al.  Random-effects models for longitudinal data. , 1982, Biometrics.

[12]  G. Thaker,et al.  Neurophysiological markers of vulnerability to schizophrenia: sensitivity and specificity of specific quantitative eye movement measures. , 2002, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[13]  M. Thase,et al.  Pursuit tracking impairments in schizophrenia and mood disorders: step-ramp studies with unmedicated patients , 1999, Biological Psychiatry.

[14]  R. Lencer,et al.  Eye tracking dysfunction in families with multiple cases of schizophrenia , 2005, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[15]  K Nakayama,et al.  Dependence of impaired eye tracking on deficient velocity discrimination in schizophrenia. , 1999, Archives of general psychiatry.

[16]  B. Clementz,et al.  Abnormality of smooth pursuit eye movement initiation: specificity to the schizophrenia spectrum? , 1995, Psychophysiology.

[17]  Robert S. Kennedy,et al.  Simulator Sickness Questionnaire: An enhanced method for quantifying simulator sickness. , 1993 .

[18]  J. Lieberman,et al.  Quantitative characterization of eye tracking dysfunction in schizophrenia , 2000, Schizophrenia Research.

[19]  S Matthysse,et al.  Eye tracking dysfunction and schizophrenia: a critical perspective. , 1993, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[20]  L. Elliot Hong,et al.  Components of the smooth pursuit function in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia , 2003, Schizophrenia Research.

[21]  L. Abel,et al.  Smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenics—What constitutes quantitative assessment? , 1988, Biological Psychiatry.

[22]  A. Olincy,et al.  Smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia and attentional dysfunction: adults with schizophrenia, ADHD, and a normal comparison group , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[23]  P. Holzman,et al.  Pursuit eye movement dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Family evidence for specificity. , 1984, Archives of general psychiatry.