Why use a mirror to assess visual pursuit in prolonged disorders of consciousness? Evidence from healthy control participants.
BMC Neurol
; 17(1): 14, 2017 Jan 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28114892
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Evidence of reliable smooth visual pursuit is crucial for both diagnosis and prognosis in prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC). However, a mirror is more likely than an object to elicit evidence of smooth pursuit. Our objective was to identify the physiological and/or cognitive mechanism underlying the mirror benefit.METHODS:
We recorded eye-movements while healthy participants simultaneously completed a visual pursuit task and a cognitively demanding two-back task. We manipulated the stimulus to be pursued (two levels mirror, ball) and the simultaneous cognitive load (pursuit only, pursuit plus two-back task) within subjects.RESULTS:
Pursuit of the reflected-own-face in the mirror was associated with briefer fixations that occurred less uniformly across the horizontal plane relative to object pursuit. Secondary task performance did not differ between pursuit stimuli. The secondary task also did not affect eye movement measures, nor did it interact with pursuit stimulus.CONCLUSIONS:
Reflected-own-face pursuit is no less cognitively demanding than object pursuit, but it naturally elicits smoother eye movements (i.e. briefer pauses to fixate). A mirror therefore provides greater sensitivity to detect smooth visual pursuit in PDOC because the naturally smoother eye movements may be identified more confidently by the assessor.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Acompanhamento Ocular Uniforme
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Transtornos da Consciência
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Exame Neurológico
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Neurol
Assunto da revista:
NEUROLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido