Learn more about Eye Tracking for School-Aged
Children!
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Eye tracking abnormalities in patients diagnosed
with schizophrenia were first observed more than
100 years ago. Over the course of time these
observations were translated into eye tracking tasks
designed to elicit the responses that had been
observed. As these eye tracking tasks evolved many
researchers began to test eye tracking in individuals
with schizophrenia. Many of these tasks have
become among the most reproducible physiologic
abnormalities associated with schizophrenia. The
tasks require the work of two neuronal systems: the
smooth pursuit system and the saccadic system.
To best illustrate the two systems we can use the
example of a car sliding across an icy intersection:
Pretend you are at a four way stop and you see a car
coming up to the stop sign on the side of you. As
the car hits the brakes it begins to slide through the
intersection. While this is happening your eyes
follow the car as it moves (smooth pursuit), but in
that moment you also look ahead quickly to see
what the car is going to hit (saccade). Following the
car is a smooth pursuit movement; your eyes are
“locked” on the target while it moves. Looking
ahead to survey the area is a saccadic movement;
your eyes rapidly jump from one point (the car) to
another point (what’s ahead).
By analyzing these two types of movements we can
see if there are abnormalities between people who
have schizophrenia and those who do not. We can
also see whether these abnormalities can also be
found in relatives of individuals with
schizophrenia. The abnormalities in eye tracking
are not diagnostic, meaning you can not tell if the
person has schizophrenia or not by looking at the
results. We look at the group differences between
the affected individuals and other groups of
individuals either with a different disorder, without
any diagnosis or family history of mental illness, or
family members of the affected individual. By
looking at these abnormalities we can say with
more certainty that these functions are impaired in
people with schizophrenia, and, therefore, we can
look at the areas in the brain and the DNA that are
associated with the eye tracking. This will help us
get closer to discovering better treatment options
and potentially finding a way to reduce the
incidence of schizophrenia in the population.
Although our study focuses on schizophrenia, we
have also used some of these same eye tracking
techniques to look at other disorders such as
bipolar, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and
autism.
What to expect when doing the eye tracking:
We will create a mouthpiece with a dental
compound that you will bite down on to keep your
head still and in the same place while we do the eye
tracking. We will seat you in a chair facing a
computer screen where you will watch a “dot”
move around that screen. To record the movements
we use infrared (invisible red) light that reflects off
of your eyes. While you can’t see this infrared
“invisible” light, it is a normal part of light and
won’t hurt your eyes. The reflections of this
infrared light are then picked up by sensors and
translated into the movements that we then
analyze.
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DEMONSTRATION HERE
The visual smooth pursuit task that the
subjects see is very similar to this crude
demonstration.