Faulty eye signaling may be to blame for schizoid hallucinations

By observing the eye movements of schizophrenia patients while they played a simple video game, a University of British Columbia researcher has discovered a potential explanation for some of their symptoms.

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder affecting about one per cent of the population that often causes people to hear voices that others don’t hear or see things that others don’t see. People with schizophrenia often have poor motion perception and eye movements, leading them to bump into people while walking or making it a challenge to cross a street. They often cannot perform simple tasks like preparing a shopping list or reading a transportation map.

The new research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that compared to healthy subjects, schizophrenia patients had a harder time tracking a moving dot on a screen and predicting its trajectory. But the impairment of their eye movements was not severe enough to explain the difference in their predictive performance, suggesting a breakdown in their ability to interpret what they saw.

Lead researcher Miriam Spering (pictured) says the patients were having trouble generating or using an efference copy – a signal sent from the eye movement system in the brain indicating how much, and in what direction, their eyes have moved. The efference copy helps validate visual information from the eyes.

“An impaired ability to generate or interpret efference copies means the brain cannot correct an incomplete perception,” says Spering. “The brain might fill in the blanks by extrapolating from prior experience, contributing to psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations.”

The new findings, according to Spering, indicate that schizophrenics could improve their visual processing deficit with simple exercises. “Just as a person might, through practice, improve their ability to predict the trajectory of a moving dot, a person might be able to improve their ability to generate or use that efference copy,” she explained. “My vision would be a mobile device that patients could use to practice that skill, so they could more easily do common tasks that involve motion perception, such as walking along a crowded sidewalk.”

Related:
Discuss this article in our forum
Schizophrenia created in a petri dish
Art therapy not so therapeutic for schizophrenics
Schizophrenic computer models mental illness
Epigenetic Changes Found In Schizophrenics

Source: University of British Columbia

, ,

Comments are closed.

One (1) Natural Tiger Eye Worry Stone, Thumb Stone. picture

One (1) Natural Tiger Eye Worry Stone, Thumb Stone.

$8.00



~Protection Tiger Eye Crystal Necklace Handmade Copper Wrapped Spiritual Healing picture

~Protection Tiger Eye Crystal Necklace Handmade Copper Wrapped Spiritual Healing

$15.99



Natural Peacock's eye Tower quartz Crystal Obelisk Wand point Reiki healing 1PC picture

Natural Peacock's eye Tower quartz Crystal Obelisk Wand point Reiki healing 1PC

$10.23



Shungite Natural Stone Pendant Cut Original Healing Crystal EMF Karelia Russia picture

Shungite Natural Stone Pendant Cut Original Healing Crystal EMF Karelia Russia

$12.98



Natural Rough Stones Rocks - Huge Choice lb or oz (Crystal Wholesale Bulk Lots) picture

Natural Rough Stones Rocks - Huge Choice lb or oz (Crystal Wholesale Bulk Lots)

$7.40



1.5

1.5" PROPHECY STONE Z "POCKET SPIKE BALL" EGYPTIAN 3rd EYE WICCAN REIKI 50gr

$21.00



LARGE Blue Tiger Eye Rough Natural Stones Wholesale Bulk lots - Raw Tiger Eye picture

LARGE Blue Tiger Eye Rough Natural Stones Wholesale Bulk lots - Raw Tiger Eye

$15.95



Natural Rare Tiger Eye Crystal Ball Gemstone Sphere Stone Healing V8R0 picture

Natural Rare Tiger Eye Crystal Ball Gemstone Sphere Stone Healing V8R0

$2.59



One(1) Natural Tiger Eye Gemstone Dowsing Pendulums picture

One(1) Natural Tiger Eye Gemstone Dowsing Pendulums

$13.00



XL 3.1

XL 3.1" PROPHECY STONE Z "SPIKE FEST" EGYPTIAN 3rd EYE WICCAN REIKI 190gr

$41.00



Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes