1
|
Hapakova L, Necpal J, Kosutzka Z. The antisaccadic paradigm: A complementary neuropsychological tool in basal ganglia disorders. Cortex 2024; 178:116-140. [PMID: 38991475 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2024] [Revised: 04/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
This review explores the role of the antisaccadic task in understanding inhibitory mechanisms in basal ganglia disorders. It conducts a comparative analysis of saccadic profiles in conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Huntington's disease, and dystonia, revealing distinct patterns and proposing mechanisms for impaired performance. The primary focus is on two inhibitory mechanisms: global, pre-emptive inhibition responsible for suppressing prepotent responses, and slower, selective response inhibition. The antisaccadic task demonstrates practicality in clinical applications, aiding in differential diagnoses, treatment monitoring and reflecting gait control. To further enhance its differential diagnostic value, future directions should address issues such as the standardization of eye-tracking protocol and the integration of eye-tracking data with other disease indicators in a comprehensive dataset.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lenka Hapakova
- 2nd Department of Neurology, Comenius University Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| | - Jan Necpal
- Neurology Department, Hospital Zvolen, a. s., Zvolen, Slovakia.
| | - Zuzana Kosutzka
- 2nd Department of Neurology, Comenius University Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
McBride A, Arblaster G. Schizophrenia and Orthoptic Conditions: A Literature Review. Br Ir Orthopt J 2024; 20:133-145. [PMID: 38681187 PMCID: PMC11049682 DOI: 10.22599/bioj.327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Purpose A narrative review of the literature reporting ocular abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia was undertaken to determine the types and prevalence of orthoptic conditions in this patient cohort. Methods A systematic search of multiple databases yielded 1,974 studies published between January 1992 and January 2022. All were screened for relevance based on their title and abstract. Results Seventeen studies were included in the final review. Ocular abnormalities reported in schizophrenia included a high incidence of strabismus, reduced visual acuity and reduced stereopsis compared to controls. Additionally, eye movement abnormalities (including reduced smooth pursuit gain and increased prosaccade latency) were frequently reported. Reduced visual acuity was associated with negative symptoms and reduced quality of life in schizophrenia. Conclusions Orthoptists and eye care professionals should be aware that a higher incidence of strabismus, reduced visual acuity, reduced stereoacuity, and eye movement abnormalities are reported in patients with schizophrenia. Further research is required to determine whether, or to what extent, ocular abnormalities and visual disturbances influence or exacerbate the symptoms of schizophrenia, and whether there is an effect of schizophrenia medication on these orthoptic conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna McBride
- University of Sheffield (BMedSci Orthoptics), UK
- University Hospitals Dorset, UK
| | - Gemma Arblaster
- School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, University of Sheffield, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Koch NA, Voss P, Cisneros-Franco JM, Drouin-Picaro A, Tounkara F, Ducharme S, Guitton D, de Villers-Sidani É. Eye movement function captured via an electronic tablet informs on cognition and disease severity in Parkinson's disease. Sci Rep 2024; 14:9082. [PMID: 38643273 PMCID: PMC11032372 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59750-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Studying the oculomotor system provides a unique window to assess brain health and function in various clinical populations. Although the use of detailed oculomotor parameters in clinical research has been limited due to the scalability of the required equipment, the development of novel tablet-based technologies has created opportunities for fast, easy, cost-effective, and reliable eye tracking. Oculomotor measures captured via a mobile tablet-based technology have previously been shown to reliably discriminate between Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients and healthy controls. Here we further investigate the use of oculomotor measures from tablet-based eye-tracking to inform on various cognitive abilities and disease severity in PD patients. When combined using partial least square regression, the extracted oculomotor parameters can explain up to 71% of the variance in cognitive test scores (e.g. Trail Making Test). Moreover, using a receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis we show that eye-tracking parameters can be used in a support vector classifier to discriminate between individuals with mild PD from those with moderate PD (based on UPDRS cut-off scores) with an accuracy of 90%. Taken together, our findings highlight the potential usefulness of mobile tablet-based technology to rapidly scale eye-tracking use and usefulness in both research and clinical settings by informing on disease stage and cognitive outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nils A Koch
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Innodem Neurosciences, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Patrice Voss
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Rm 742, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
- Innodem Neurosciences, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - J Miguel Cisneros-Franco
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Rm 742, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | | | - Fama Tounkara
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Simon Ducharme
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Rm 742, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniel Guitton
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Rm 742, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Étienne de Villers-Sidani
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Rm 742, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
- Innodem Neurosciences, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Pérez-Parra JE, Restrepo-de-Mejía F. The Trail Making Test (part B) is associated with working memory: A concurrent validity study. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. ADULT 2023:1-9. [PMID: 36706083 DOI: 10.1080/23279095.2023.2171793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The Test Making Test (TMT) was originally created as a distributed attention test. Part B (TMT-B) has been proposed as representative of executive functions as effective problem solving and working memory. This study aimed to explore the validity of the TMT-B as an indicator of working memory in adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted by using linear correlation coefficients between the TMT-B and neuropsychological and electrophysiological tests of working memory. Fifty-six individuals participated, all of which had normal cognitive functioning and were aged between 19 and 55 years old. Results show a significant correlation among the TMT-B scores with all subtests, the overall score of the Corsi Block-Tapping Test, the Working Memory Index of the WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) (p ≤ .05) and the auditory Event Related Potentials (p < .01) with the N200 and P300 latencies and amplitudes. These findings are preliminary evidence of the validity of the TMT-B for the evaluation of working memory in adults. Additional studies are required to assess the differential validity of the TMT-B in the evaluation of working memory, through comparative correlational analyzes with the results of various neuropsychological tests that assess other cognitive functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julio Ernesto Pérez-Parra
- Doctoral Program in Cognitive Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Manizales, Manizales, Colombia
- Department of Human Movement, Universidad Autónoma de Manizales, Manizales, Colombia
| | - Francia Restrepo-de-Mejía
- Doctoral Program in Cognitive Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Manizales, Manizales, Colombia
- Department of Basic Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Manizales, Manizales, Colombia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Working Memory Capacity Depends on Attention Control, but Not Selective Attention. Behav Sci (Basel) 2023; 13:bs13020092. [PMID: 36829321 PMCID: PMC9952259 DOI: 10.3390/bs13020092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Working memory and attention are interrelated constructs that are sometimes even considered indistinguishable. Since attention is not a uniform construct, it is possible that different types of attention affect working memory capacity differently. To clarify this issue, we investigated the relationship between working memory capacity and various components of attention. The sample consisted of 136 healthy adult participants aged 18 to 37 years (M = 20.58, SD = 2.74). Participants performed tasks typically used to assess working memory (operation span, change detection, simple digit span, and adaptive digit span tasks), selective attention (visual search task), and attention control (Stroop and antisaccade tasks). We tested several models with working memory and attention, either as a unitary factor or being divided into selective attention and attention control factors. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model with three latent variables-working memory capacity, attention control, and selective attention-fit the data best. Results showed that working memory and attention are distinct but correlated constructs: working memory capacity was only related to attention control, whereas attention control was related to both constructs. We propose that differences in working memory capacity are determined only by the ability to maintain attention on the task, while differences in the ability to filter out non-salient distractors are not related to working memory capacity.
Collapse
|
6
|
Wang W, Clough M, White O, Shuey N, Van Der Walt A, Fielding J. Detecting Cognitive Impairment in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Using Ocular Motor and Neuropsychological Testing. Front Neurol 2021; 12:772513. [PMID: 34867761 PMCID: PMC8635089 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.772513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: To determine whether cognitive impairments in patients with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) are correlated with changes in visual processing, weight, waist circumference, mood or headache, and whether they change over time. Methods: Twenty-two newly diagnosed IIH patients participated, with a subset assessed longitudinally at 3 and 6 months. Both conventional and novel ocular motor tests of cognition were included: Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Stroop Colour and Word Test (SCWT), Digit Span, California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), prosaccade (PS) task, antisaccade (AS) task, interleaved antisaccade-prosaccade (AS-PS) task. Patients also completed headache, mood, and visual functioning questionnaires. Results: IIH patients performed more poorly than controls on the SDMT (p< 0.001), SCWT (p = 0.021), Digit Span test (p< 0.001) and CVLT (p = 0.004) at baseline, and generated a higher proportion of AS errors in both the AS (p< 0.001) and AS-PS tasks (p = 0.007). Further, IIH patients exhibited prolonged latencies on the cognitively complex AS-PS task (p = 0.034). While weight, waist circumference, headache and mood did not predict performance on any experimental measure, increased retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) was associated with AS error rate on both the block [F(3, 19)=3.22, B = 0.30, p = 0.022] and AS-PS task [F(3, 20) = 2.65, B = 0.363, p = 0.013]. Unlike ocular motor changes, impairments revealed on conventional tests of cognition persisted up to 6 months. Conclusion: We found multi-domain cognitive impairments in IIH patients that were unrelated to clinical characteristics. Marked ocular motor inhibitory control deficits were predicted by RNFL thickness but remained distinct from other cognitive changes, underscoring the significance of visual processing changes in IIH.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wendy Wang
- Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Meaghan Clough
- Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Owen White
- Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Neil Shuey
- Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Anneke Van Der Walt
- Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Joanne Fielding
- Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Ouerfelli-Ethier J, Salemme R, Fournet R, Urquizar C, Pisella L, Khan AZ. Impaired Spatial Inhibition Processes for Interhemispheric Anti-saccades following Dorsal Posterior Parietal Lesions. Cereb Cortex Commun 2021; 2:tgab054. [PMID: 34604753 PMCID: PMC8481671 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgab054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 08/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Anti-saccades are eye movements that require inhibition to stop the automatic saccade to the visual target and to perform instead a saccade in the opposite direction. The inhibitory processes underlying anti-saccades have been primarily associated with frontal cortex areas for their role in executive control. Impaired performance in anti-saccades has also been associated with the parietal cortex, but its role in inhibitory processes remains unclear. Here, we tested the assumption that the dorsal parietal cortex contributes to spatial inhibition processes of contralateral visual target. We measured anti-saccade performance in 2 unilateral optic ataxia patients and 15 age-matched controls. Participants performed 90 degree (across and within visual fields) and 180 degree inversion anti-saccades, as well as pro-saccades. The main result was that our patients took longer to inhibit visually guided saccades when the visual target was presented in the ataxic hemifield and the task required a saccade across hemifields. This was observed through anti-saccades latencies and error rates. These deficits show the crucial role of the dorsal posterior parietal cortex in spatial inhibition of contralateral visual target representations to plan an accurate anti-saccade toward the ipsilesional side.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julie Ouerfelli-Ethier
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal H3T 1P1, Canada
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Trajectoires Team, INSERM 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, University of Lyon I Claude-Bernard, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Romeo Salemme
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Trajectoires Team, INSERM 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, University of Lyon I Claude-Bernard, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Romain Fournet
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal H3T 1P1, Canada
| | - Christian Urquizar
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Trajectoires Team, INSERM 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, University of Lyon I Claude-Bernard, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Laure Pisella
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Trajectoires Team, INSERM 1028, CNRS UMR 5292, University of Lyon I Claude-Bernard, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Aarlenne Z Khan
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal H3T 1P1, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Ranjbar S, Mazidi M, Sharpe L, Dehghani M, Khatibi A. Attentional control moderates the relationship between pain catastrophizing and selective attention to pain faces on the antisaccade task. Sci Rep 2020; 10:12885. [PMID: 32732895 PMCID: PMC7393078 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69910-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive models of chronic pain emphasize the critical role of pain catastrophizing in attentional bias to pain-related stimuli. The aim of this study was (a) to investigate the relationship between pain catastrophizing and the ability to inhibit selective attention to pain-related faces (attentional bias); and (b) to determine whether attentional control moderated this relationship. One hundred and ten pain-free participants completed the anti-saccade task with dynamic facial expressions, specifically painful, angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions and questionnaires including a measure of pain catastrophizing. As predicted, participants with high pain catastrophizing had significantly higher error rates for antisaccade trials with pain faces relative to other facial expressions, indicating a difficulty disinhibiting attention towards painful faces. In moderation analyses, data showed that attentional control moderated the relationship between attentional bias to pain faces and pain catastrophizing. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated that it was shifting attention (not focusing) that accounted for this effect. Only for those with high self-reported ability to shift attention was there a significant relationship between catastrophizing and attentional bias to pain. These findings confirm that attentional control is necessary for an association between attentional bias and catastrophizing to be observed, which may explain the lack of relationships between attentional bias and individual characteristics, such as catastrophizing, in prior research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Seyran Ranjbar
- Psychology Department, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mahdi Mazidi
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Louise Sharpe
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mohsen Dehghani
- Psychology Department, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ali Khatibi
- Centre of Precision Rehabilitation for Spinal Pain (CPR Spine), School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Gkalitsiou Z, Byrd C, Griffin Z. Executive Control in Adults Who Stutter: The Antisaccade Task. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:1688-1699. [PMID: 32437256 DOI: 10.1044/2020_jslhr-19-00045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate executive control in adults who stutter (AWS) and adults who do not stutter (AWNS) via a nonspeech paradigm, wherein eye movements were monitored (i.e., antisaccade task). Processes involved in an antisaccade task include working memory, attention, and voluntary motor control, but the task primarily provides insight into inhibitory control. Method Seventeen AWS (14 men, three women; M = 23.41 years) and 17 AWNS (M = 23.29 years) were presented with a combination of prosaccade (i.e., looking toward a target) and antisaccade (i.e., suppress a reflexive saccade toward the target and look in the opposite direction) trials. The distance of the target from the center of the screen was also manipulated (i.e., 5.5o = short distance and 10.8o = long distance). Data for accuracy and reaction time of the first accurate saccade were collected and analyzed. Results No difference was found between AWS and AWNS in accuracy or in reaction time. Both groups were more accurate in the prosaccade than the antisaccade trials and in the long compared to the short distance trials. Furthermore, both groups demonstrated longer saccade latencies for long compared to short distances and for antisaccade compared to prosaccade trials. Conclusions Preliminary results do not support deficits in inhibition in AWS during a motorically simple, non-speech-related oculomotor task, but additional research is warranted.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zoi Gkalitsiou
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin
| | - Courtney Byrd
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin
| | - Zenzi Griffin
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Knox PC, Pasunuru N. Age-related alterations in inhibitory control investigated using the minimally delayed oculomotor response task. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8401. [PMID: 31942260 PMCID: PMC6955103 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Healthy, older adults are widely reported to experience cognitive decline, including impairments in inhibitory control. However, this general proposition has recently come under scrutiny because ageing effects are highly variable between individuals, are task dependent, and are sometimes not distinguished from general age-related slowing. We recently developed the minimally delayed oculomotor response (MDOR) task in which participants are presented with a simple visual target step, and instructed to saccade not to the target when it appears (a prosaccade response), but when it disappears (i.e. on target offset). Varying the target display duration (TDD) prevents offset timing being predictable from the time of target onset, and saccades prior to the offset are counted as errors. A comparison of MDOR task performance in a group of 22 older adults (mean age 62 years, range 50-72 years) with that in a group of 39 younger adults (22 years, range 19-27 years) demonstrated that MDOR latency was significantly increased in the older group by 34-68 ms depending on TDD. However, when MDOR latencies were corrected by subtracting the latency observed in a standard prosaccade task, the latency difference between groups was abolished. There was a larger latency modulation with TDD in the older group which was observed even when their generally longer latencies were taken into account. Error rates were significantly increased in the older group. An analysis of the timing distribution of errors demonstrated that most errors were failures to inhibit responses to target onsets. When error distributions were used to isolate clear inhibition failures from other types of error, the older group still exhibited significantly higher error rates as well as a higher residual error rate. Although MDOR latency in older participants may largely reflect a general slowing in the oculomotor system with age, both the latency modulation and error rate results are consistent with an age-related inhibitory control deficit. How this relates to performance on other inhibitory control tasks remains to be investigated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul C. Knox
- Eye and Vision Science, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Nikitha Pasunuru
- Eye and Vision Science, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Imaoka Y, Flury A, de Bruin ED. Assessing Saccadic Eye Movements With Head-Mounted Display Virtual Reality Technology. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:572938. [PMID: 33093838 PMCID: PMC7527608 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.572938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 08/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
As our society is ageing globally, neurodegenerative disorders are becoming a relevant issue. Assessment of saccadic eye movement could provide objective values to help to understand the symptoms of disorders. HTC Corporation launched a new virtual reality (VR) headset, VIVE Pro Eye, implementing an infrared-based eye tracking technique together with VR technology. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the device can be used as an assessment tool of saccadic eye movement and to investigate the technical features of eye tracking. We developed a measurement system of saccadic eye movement with a simple VR environment on Unity VR design platform, following an internationally proposed standard saccade measurement protocol. We then measured the saccadic eye movement of seven healthy young adults to analyze the oculo-metrics of latency, peak velocity, and error rate of pro- and anti-saccade tasks: 120 trials in each task. We calculated these parameters based on the saccade detection algorithm that we have developed following previous studies. Consequently, our results revealed latency of 220.40 ± 43.16 ms, peak velocity of 357.90 ± 111.99°/s, and error rate of 0.24 ± 0.41% for the pro-saccade task, and latency of 343.35 ± 76.42 ms, peak velocity of 318.79 ± 116.69°/s, and error rate of 0.66 ± 0.76% for the anti-saccade task. In addition, we observed pupil diameter of 4.30 ± 1.15 mm (left eye) and 4.29 ± 1.08 mm (right eye) for the pro-saccade task, and of 4.21 ± 1.04 mm (left eye) and 4.22 ± 0.97 mm (right eye) for the anti-saccade task. Comparing between the descriptive statistics of previous studies and our results suggests that VIVE Pro Eye can function as an assessment tool of saccadic eye movement since our results are in the range of or close to the results of previous studies. Nonetheless, we found technical limitations especially about time-related measurement parameters. Further improvements in software and hardware of the device and measurement protocol, and more measurements with diverse age-groups and people with different health conditions are warranted to enhance the whole assessment system of saccadic eye movement.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yu Imaoka
- Motor Control & Learning Laboratory, Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andri Flury
- Motor Control & Learning Laboratory, Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Eling D de Bruin
- Motor Control & Learning Laboratory, Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|