A turn-key transportable eye-tracking instrument for clinical assessment

This paper describes a combined instrument (eye tracker and target generator, both head mounted, with integrated data analysis) that tests parameters of saccadic eye movement and fixation control to give insight into the status of functional brain systems. Using three minilasers, the target generator projects three visual stimuli, a fixation point and two lateral stimuli, with programmable timing. The controller allows the selection of overlap, 200-msec gap, or remembered saccade trials. Size, maximal velocity, and reaction time are determined for each primary saccade. The number of prosaccades and antisaccades are counted. More saccades—for example, the occurrence and latency of corrective saccades—may be evaluated off line by an interactive PC analysis program. The eye position data can be transferred to a PC. Off-line analysis compares each observed variable relative to an age-matched control group (300 healthy control subjects 7–70 years of age, tested in the overlap condition with prosaccade instructions and in the gap condition with antisaccades). The diagnostic results can be used to elaborate an individual optomotor training program.