Increased microsaccade rate in individuals with ADHD traits

Panagiotidi, M; Overton, PG; Stafford, T

Abstract

Microsaccades are involuntary, small, jerk-like eye-movements with high-velocity that are observed during fixation. Abnormal microsaccade rates and characteristics have been observed in a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders. In this study, we examine microsaccade differences in 43 non-clinical participants with high and low levels of ADHD-like traits, assessed with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS, Kessler, Adler, et al., 2005). A simple sustained attention paradigm, which has been previously shown to elicit microsaccades, was employed. A positive correlation was found between ADHD-like traits and binocular and monocular microsaccade rates. No other differences in microsaccade properties were observed. The relationship between ADHD traits and microsaccades suggests that abnormal oculomotor behaviour is a core deficit in ADHD and could potentially lead to the development of a biomarker for the disorder.

Citation

Panagiotidi, M., Overton, P., & Stafford, T. (2017). Increased microsaccade rate in individuals with ADHD traits. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 10(1), https://doi.org/10.16910/10.1.6

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 4, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 23, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 23, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Eye Movement Research
• Publisher: Bern Open Publishing
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.16910/10.1.6
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.16910/10.1.6
• Related Public URLs: https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/index