Analysis of exploratory eye movements in patients with schizophrenia during visual scanning of projective tests' figures

OBJETIVO: Comparar o padrao do movimento ocular durante a inspecao dos cartoes dos testes projetivos Rorschach e TAT em pessoas com esquizofrenia e controles. METODO: Participaram 10 sujeitos com esquizofrenia e 10 controles, pareados por idade, escolaridade e nivel de inteligencia. A severidade dos sintomas foi avaliada com a Escala das Sindromes Positiva e Negativa. Os cartoes dos testes foram divididos em tres grupos: figuras do TAT representando ambientes, figuras do TAT com faces humanas e figuras abstratas do teste Rorschach. Os movimentos oculares foram analisados para: numero total, duracao e localizacao das fixacoes e comprimento dos movimentos sacadicos. RESULTADOS: Foram encontradas diferencas no padrao do movimento ocular, e pessoas com esquizofrenia apresentaram menos fixacoes nos cartoes do teste Rorschach e TAT-faces. Maiores diferencas foram observadas nos cartoes do Rorschach, seguidos pelo TAT-faces e, por ultimo, TAT-ambiente. CONCLUSOES: Os resultados sugerem alteracao nos mecanismos de exploracao visual, possivelmente relacionada com a integracao da informacao visual abstrata.

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