Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the oculomotor performance of CD patients using eye tracking saccade paradigms.
Background: The pathophysiology of cervical dystonia (CD) is still unclear. Recent evidence points towards a network disorder, where several brain areas including the cerebellum, the superior colliculus and the basal ganglia are affected.
Method: We recruited a total of 52 participants in our study (35 patients with CD and 17 sex, age and gender matched healthy controls). Using an eye tracker we performed an overlap prosaccade, an antisaccade and a countermanding task to assess automatic visual response and response inhibition. For each paradigm saccadic amplitude, saccadic reaction time and error rate were recorded.
Results: CD patients showed a worse performance in all three paradigms compared to controls. CD patients showed a higher rate of premature saccades in the overlap prosaccade task, higher directional error rate in the antisaccade task, and higher rate of failed inhibition in the countermanding task. Additionally, saccadic reaction times in the correctly performed antisaccade task were significantly longer in CD patients.
Conclusion: The present eye tracking study highlights a loss of saccadic inhibitory control in CD patients. The executive control impairment emerging from the poor performance in these tasks may find its underpinnings in a dysfunctional network involving the cerebellum and the superior colliculus.
References: 1 – Mc Govern, E.M., Killian, O., Narasimham, S. et al. Disrupted superior collicular activity may reveal cervical dystonia disease pathomechanisms. Sci Rep 7, 16753 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17074-x 2 – Bologna M, Berardelli A. Cerebellum: An explanation for dystonia?. Cerebellum Ataxias. 2017;4:6. Published 2017 May 12. doi:10.1186/s40673-017-0064-8 3 – Mark Hallett. Neurophysiology of dystonia: The role of inhibition. Neurobiology of Disease,Volume 42, Issue 2,2011,Pages 177-184,ISSN 0969-9961. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2010.08.025.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
F. Carbone, P. Ellmerer, S. Spielberger, P. Mahlknecht, E. Hameter, A. Hussl, A. Hotter, R. Granata, K. Seppi, S. Bösch, W. Poewe, A. Djamshidian. Impaired inhibitory control of saccadic eye movements in cervical dystonia: an eye tracking study [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2020; 35 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impaired-inhibitory-control-of-saccadic-eye-movements-in-cervical-dystonia-an-eye-tracking-study/. Accessed May 17, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/impaired-inhibitory-control-of-saccadic-eye-movements-in-cervical-dystonia-an-eye-tracking-study/