Exploratory eye movements in schizophrenic patients and patients with frontal lobe lesions

SUMMARYResearch with patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and frontal lobe lesions has shown that disturbances in the fronto-striatal loops in the brain can cause perseveration. Perseveration is a core symptom of schizophrenia, yet the cause is not known. For schizophrenic patients disorders of many parts of the fronto-striatal loops are found, for example disturbances of the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. Perseveration in schizophrenia can be explained with set-maintenance problems, related to dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex, or with set-shifting problems that are related to disorders in the striatum. These set-maintenance and set-shifting problems can be distinguished with neuropsychological tests. Regarding the bloodflow patterns for the different subtypes of schizophrenia three problems are expected as explanations for perseveration: set-maintenance problems concerning abstract information, set-maintenance problems shifting between stimuli and enhanced set-shifting with cues.

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Saccadic eye movements after frontal lobe lesions and hemispherectomy in humans. An electrooculographic study

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/0013-4694(81)92349-x ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 4-5

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Frontal Lobe ◽

Saccadic Eye Movements ◽

Frontal Lobe Lesions

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IV. Performance on Psychological Tests. Demographic and Clinical Correlates of the Results of these Tests

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/s0007125000296323 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 159 (S13) ◽

pp. 26-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

C. D. Frith ◽

J. Leary ◽

Concepta Cahill ◽

Eve C. Johnstone

Keyword(s):

Frontal Lobe ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Large Population ◽

Signs And Symptoms ◽

Population Based ◽

Psychological Tests ◽

Clinical Correlates ◽

Frontal Lobe Lesions ◽

Schizophrenic Patients

It has become increasingly apparent that schizophrenic patients can suffer from many cognitive deficits (Hemsley, 1982). These include a decline in IQ (Nelson et al, 1990), loss of concentration (Garmezy, 1978), and various ‘executive’ difficulties similar to those observed in patients with frontal lobe lesions (Morice, 1990). The availability of a large, population-based sample of schizophrenic patients in the Harrow study provided the opportunity to examine the prevalence of these impairments and to relate them to the signs and symptoms of the disorder.

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Association of abnormal smooth pursuit eye movements with the deficit syndrome in schizophrenic patients

American Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1176/ajp.153.9.1158 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 153 (9) ◽

pp. 1158-1165 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Smooth Pursuit ◽

Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements ◽

Deficit Syndrome ◽

Pursuit Eye Movements ◽

Schizophrenic Patients

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P1.198 Frontal lobe lesions mimicking midbrain tremor

Parkinsonism & Related Disorders ◽

10.1016/s1353-8020(09)70320-7 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

pp. S80

Author(s):

G. Grimaldi ◽

M. Manto

Keyword(s):

Frontal Lobe ◽

Frontal Lobe Lesions ◽

Midbrain Tremor

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Susceptibility to Memory Interference Effects following Frontal Lobe Damage: Findings from Tests of Paired-Associate Learning

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.1995.7.2.144 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 144-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 116

Author(s):

Arthur P. Shimamura ◽

Paul J. Jurica ◽

Jennifer A. Mangels ◽

Felick B. Gershberg ◽

Robert T. Knight

Keyword(s):

Frontal Lobe ◽

Paired Associate ◽

Memory Function ◽

Paired Associate Learning ◽

Interference Effects ◽

Associate Learning ◽

Memory Interference ◽

Frontal Lobe Lesions ◽

List Learning ◽

Different Response

Patients with frontal lobe lesions were adminstered tests of paired-associate learning in which cue and response words are manipulated to increase interference across two study lists. In one test of paired-associate learning (AB-AC test), cue words used in one list are repeated in a second list but are associated with different response words (e.g., LION-HUNTER, LION-CIRCUS). In another test (AB-ABr test), words used in one list are repeated in a second list but are rearranged to form new pairs. Compared to control subjects, patients with frontal lobe lesions exhibited disproportionate impairment of second-list learning as a result of interference effects. In particular, patients exhibited the poorest performance during the initial trial of the second list, a trial in which interference effects from the first list would be most apparent. These findings suggest that the on-line control of irrelevant or competing memory associations is disrupted following frontal lobe lesions. This disruption may be indicative of an impaired gating or filtering mechanism that affects not only memory function but other cognitive function as well.

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