Eye Movements In /Individuals At Risk For Alcoholism

对人类眼球运动的研究为检查各种认知功能提供了一种非常有用的方法。很明显，眼跳运动的潜伏期和目标与注意力有关。不那么明显的是，认知的其他方面，如短期记忆、准备状态和对上下文不恰当反应的抑制，也可以使用眼动技术进行评估。短期记忆、准备阶段和对背景的不恰当反应抑制构成了前额叶皮质的核心功能；这是大脑中参与控制高级认知过程最多的区域。我们使用了许多不同的任务来引发眼跳，包括进行/不进行任务和延迟响应任务。这些任务允许我们通过测量记忆引导的眼跳的准确性和潜伏期，以及应该被抑制的背景不适当的眼跳的频率，来独立评估前额叶皮质的核心功能。使用这些任务，我们已经证明，精神分裂症患者在前额叶皮质功能的三个核心方面受到损害，而注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)儿童只在抑制上下文不适当眼跳的能力方面受到损害。同样，成年酗酒者也很难抑制不恰当的扫视。酗酒者流畅的追逐眼球运动是完全正常的。在过去的几年里，我们增加了几个新的基于计算机的认知任务，旨在评估冒险和冲动行为。其中一项任务，爱荷华州赌博任务(IGT)已被证明与前额叶腹内侧皮质的损伤有关。我们发现，在IGT上的表现将酗酒者与对照组区分开来。在这项任务中，酗酒者比对照组有更多的高风险/高潜在回报行为。这与酗酒者对其行为的直接后果比长期后果更敏感的观点是一致的。

The study of human eye movements provides an extremely useful approach to the examination of a variety of cognitive functions. It is obvious that the latency and goal of saccadic eye movements are related to attention. What is not so obvious is that other aspects of cognition such as short-term memory, preparatory set, and inhibition of context inappropriate responses can also be assessed using eye movement techniques. Short-term memory, preparatory set, and inhibition of context inappropriate responses constitute core functions of the prefrontal cortex; the brain region most involved in the control of higher order cognitive processes. We have used a number of different tasks to elicit saccades, including Go/No Go tasks and delayed response tasks. These tasks allow us to independently assess core functions of the prefrontal cortex by measuring the accuracy and latency of memory guided saccades, as well as the frequency of context inappropriate saccades that should be inhibited. Using these tasks we have demonstrated that schizophrenics are impaired in the three core aspects of prefrontal cortex function while children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are impaired in only their ability to inhibit context inappropriate saccades. Similarly, adult alcoholics also have difficulty inhibiting context inappropriate saccades. The smooth pursuit eye movements of alcoholics are completely normal. Over the few past years, we have added several new computer-based cognitive tasks designed to assess risk-taking and impulsive behavior. One of these tasks, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been shown to be associated with damage to the ventro-mesial frontal cortex. We have found that performance on the IGT distinguishes alcoholics from controls. In this task the alcoholics engage in more high risk/high potential payoff behavior than controls. This is consistent with the idea that alcoholics are more responsive to the immediate consequences than the long-term consequences of their behavior.