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Antisaccade and prosaccade eye movements in individuals clinically at risk for psychosis: comparison with first-episode schizophrenia and prediction of conversion

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Abstract

Saccadic eye movements are well-described markers of cerebral function and have been widely studied in schizophrenia spectrum populations. However, less is known about saccades in individuals clinically at risk for schizophrenia. Therefore, we studied individuals in an at-risk mental state (ARMS) (N = 160), patients in their first episode of schizophrenia (N = 32) and healthy controls (N = 75). N = 88 ARMS participants showed an early at-risk mental state (E-ARMS), defined by cognitive-perceptive basic symptoms (COPER) or a combination of risk and loss of function, whereas N = 72 were in a late at-risk mental state (L-ARMS), defined by attenuated psychotic symptoms or brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms. We examined prosaccades, reflecting overt attentional shifts, and antisaccades, measuring inhibitory control, as well as their relationship as an indicator of the interplay of bottom–up and top–down influences. L-ARMS but not E-ARMS participants had increased antisaccade latencies compared to controls. First-episode patients had higher antisaccade error rates compared to E-ARMS participants and controls, and increased latencies compared to all other groups. Prosaccade latencies did not differ between groups. We observed the expected negative correlation between prosaccade latency and antisaccade error rate, indicating that individuals with shorter prosaccade latencies made more antisaccade errors. The magnitude of the association did not differ between groups. No saccadic measure predicted conversion to psychosis within 2 years. These findings confirm the existence of antisaccade impairments in patients with schizophrenia and provide evidence that volitional response generation in the antisaccade task may be affected even before onset of clinically overt psychosis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) (Grant numbers BMBF 01GI 9934, 01GI 0234, 01GI9932, 01GI0232, 01GI0532). The funding source had no further role in the study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; and the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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  1. Luca Kleineidam, Ingo Frommann equal contribution.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127, Bonn, Germany

    Luca Kleineidam, Ingo Frommann, Wolfgang Maier & Michael Wagner

  2. Department for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53127, Bonn, Germany

    Luca Kleineidam, Ingo Frommann, Wolfgang Maier & Michael Wagner

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937, Cologne, Germany

    Stephan Ruhrmann & Joachim Klosterkötter

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Rheinhessen-Fachklinik Alzey, Dautenheimer Landstraße 66, 55232, Alzey, Germany

    Anke Brockhaus-Dumke

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Wolfgang Wölwer & Wolfgang Gaebel

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111, Bonn, Germany

    Ulrich Ettinger

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  1. Luca Kleineidam
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Contributions

MW, WW, WM, SR and JK conceived the study and obtained funding. MW designed the study and wrote the protocol. IF, WW, and ADB were responsible for data recording and management. LK and UE performed the analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors have contributed to data acquisition and to revising the manuscript and have approved the final manuscript. Luca Kleineidam (LK), Ingo Frommann (IF), Stephan Ruhrmann (SR), Joachim Klosterkötter (JK), Anke Brockhaus-Dumke (ABD) Wolfgang Wölwer (WW), Wolfgang Gaebel (WG), Wolfgang Maier (WM), Michael Wagner (MW), Ulrich Ettinger (UE).

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Correspondence to Michael Wagner.

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Kleineidam, L., Frommann, I., Ruhrmann, S. et al. Antisaccade and prosaccade eye movements in individuals clinically at risk for psychosis: comparison with first-episode schizophrenia and prediction of conversion. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 269, 921–930 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0973-4

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