Target velocity and smooth pursuit eye movements in psychiatric patients.

Smooth pursuit tracking performance of psychiatric patients and non-hospitalized normal controls was compared for targets oscillating at 0.45 Hz and 0.31 Hz. Psychiatric inpatients exhibited significantly more velocity arrests than psychiatric outpatients or normals under both conditions. Tracking performance of all groups at 0.31 Hz was improved relative to that at 0.45 Hz, but significant improvement occurred only for outpatients and normals. The role of attentional and stimulus factors in the tracking performance or psychiatric patients is discussed.