Visual exploration of emotional faces in schizophrenia using masks from the Japanese Noh theatre.

Studying eye movements during visual exploration is widely used to investigate visual information processing in schizophrenia. Here, we used masks from the Japanese Noh theatre to study visual exploration behavior during an emotional face recognition task and a brightness evaluation control task using the same stimuli. Eye movements were recorded in 25 patients with schizophrenia and 25 age-matched healthy controls while participants explored seven photos of Japanese Noh masks tilted to seven different angles.

Free visual exploration of natural movies in schizophrenia.

Background: Eye tracking dysfunction (ETD) observed with standard pursuit stimuli represents a well-established biomarker for schizophrenia. How ETD may manifest during free visual exploration of real-life movies is unclear.

Methods: Eye movements were recorded (EyeLink®1000) while 26 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy age-matched controls freely explored nine uncut movies and nine pictures of real-life situations for 20 s each.