Eye tracking impairment in clinically identified patients with schizotypal personality disorder.

ABSTRACT

Eye tracking accuracy, which has been found to be impaired in schizophrenic patients and their relatives, was assessed in 26 patients with schizotypal personality disorder, 17 control subjects with other non-schizophrenia-related personality disorders, 29 normal control subjects, and 44 schizophrenic patients. Both schizotypal and schizophrenic patients, but not control subjects with other personality disorders, demonstrated significantly more impaired tracking than the normal control subjects. These results suggest that patients with clinically defined schizotypal personality disorder may be biologically related to schizophrenic patients as part of a spectrum of schizophrenia-related disorders.