Aberrant visual salience in participants with schizophrenia during free-viewing of natural images

Abstract

AbstractAbnormalities in visual exploration affect the daily lives of patients with schizophrenia; however, its origin is unknown. In this study, we examined whether such abnormalities reflect aberrant processing of visual salience. Eye movements of 82 patients and 252 healthy individuals viewing natural and/or complex images were examined using saliency maps for static images to determine the contributions of low-level visual features to salience-guided eye movements. The results showed that the gazes of the participants with schizophrenia were attracted to position in the images with high orientation salience but not luminance or color salience. Further analyses revealed that orientation salience defined by the L+M channel of the DKL color space is specifically affected in schizophrenia, suggesting abnormalities in the magnocellular visual pathway. These results suggest aberrant processing of visual salience in schizophrenia, thereby connecting the dots between abnormalities in early visual processing and the aberrant salience hypothesis of psychosis.