Eye-Movement Intervention for Cognitive Impairment Across Schizophrenia Spectrum

July 8, 2026 updated by: Shanghai Mental Health Center

Effects of an Eye-Movement Intervention on Cognitive Impairment in Individuals Across Illness Stages of Schizophrenia: Protocol for a Stratified Randomized, Active-Controlled, Assessor-Blinded Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether a gamified eye-movement intervention can improve cognitive function in individuals across the schizophrenia spectrum, including clinical high-risk individuals, first-episode schizophrenia patients, and chronic schizophrenia patients. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Does eye-movement training improve cognitive performance measured by the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB)?
  • Does eye-movement training improve oculomotor functions and clinical symptoms across different illness stages?

Researchers will compare an eye-movement intervention group with an active control group receiving matched finger-controlled game training to determine whether the eye-movement intervention produces greater improvements in cognitive function and eye-movement performance.

Participants will:

  • Receive either gamified eye-movement training or matched finger-controlled game training for 4 weeks.
  • Complete cognitive assessments using the MCCB before and after the intervention.
  • Complete standardized eye-tracking tasks, including fixation stability, smooth pursuit, antisaccade, and free-viewing tasks, to evaluate changes in oculomotor control and visual exploration patterns.
  • Complete clinical symptom assessments using SOPS or PANSS according to illness stage.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study is a stratified, randomized, active-controlled, assessor-blinded clinical trial designed to evaluate the effects of a gamified eye-movement intervention on cognitive function across the schizophrenia spectrum, including clinical high-risk individuals, first-episode schizophrenia patients, chronic schizophrenia patients, and healthy controls.

Cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and is associated with poor functional outcomes across illness stages. Eye movements are closely linked to cognitive processes such as attention, working memory, and executive control, suggesting that eye-movement-based training may have potential as a cognitive intervention.

Participants will be stratified by illness stage and randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either an eye-movement intervention group or an active control group receiving matched finger-controlled game training. The intervention targets core oculomotor functions, including fixation control, smooth pursuit, and saccadic eye movements, through structured gamified training tasks. The intervention lasts 4 weeks, with 3-4 sessions per week.

The primary outcome is change in cognitive performance assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), including composite and domain-specific T-scores from baseline to week 4. Secondary outcomes include changes in oculomotor functions and visual exploration patterns assessed using standardized eye-tracking tasks, including fixation stability, smooth pursuit, antisaccade, and free-viewing paradigms. Clinical symptom severity will be assessed using the Scale of Psychosis-Risk Symptoms (SOPS) for clinical high-risk participants and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia participants.

Statistical analyses will evaluate intervention effects on cognitive, eye-movement, and clinical outcomes, including group-by-time interactions across illness stages.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

160

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age between 15 and 45 years.
  • More than 9 years of education.
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision without color blindness, color weakness, strabismus, or nystagmus.
  • Right-handedness.
  • Impaired cognitive performance defined as a T-score <40 in at least one MCCB cognitive domain at baseline.
  • Capacity to complete cognitive and eye-tracking assessments.
  • Clinical high-risk group: Meet psychosis-risk syndrome criteria based on SIPS/SOPS, including attenuated positive symptoms or brief intermittent psychotic symptoms.
  • First-episode schizophrenia group: Meet DSM-5 criteria for schizophrenia, with first episode occurring within approximately 2 years of illness onset and minimal prior antipsychotic exposure.
  • Chronic schizophrenia group: Meet DSM-5 criteria for schizophrenia, with illness duration ≥5 years and stable treatment status for the previous 6 months.
  • Healthy control group: No current or past psychiatric disorders based on MINI 7.0 and no significant depressive symptoms based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Healthy controls will also meet the same general criteria regarding age, education, handedness, and vision.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • IQ <70.
  • Severe or unstable medical or neurological illness (e.g., stroke, epilepsy, dementia, cardiac disease, or uncontrolled hypertension).
  • Substance abuse or dependence.
  • Clinically significant laboratory abnormalities.
  • Visual or auditory impairments affecting task performance.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Eye-Movement Intervention Group
Participants in this group will receive a gamified eye-movement intervention targeting fixation control, smooth pursuit, and saccadic eye movements. The training is delivered through interactive game-based tasks including fixation-based jumping, directional gaze control, and gaze-guided visual tracking. Participants will complete 3-4 sessions per week, with each session lasting approximately 30 minutes, for a total intervention period of 4 weeks. The intervention aims to improve visuospatial attention and cognitive performance.
Behavioral: Eye-Movement Training
A gamified eye-movement training program designed to improve fixation control, smooth pursuit, and saccadic eye movements. The intervention includes three interactive tasks: fixation-based jumping game, gaze-direction control game, and gaze-guided visual tracking game. Participants complete 3-4 sessions per week, approximately 30 minutes per session, for 4 weeks. The intervention is delivered via a computerized eye-tracking system.
Active Comparator: Active Control Group (Finger-Controlled Game Training)
Participants in this group will receive a finger-controlled gamified training program matched in duration, frequency, visual stimulation, and task structure to the experimental intervention. The training does not involve eye-movement control and serves as an active control condition to account for non-specific effects such as task engagement, visual exposure, and expectancy. Participants will complete 3-4 sessions per week, each lasting approximately 30 minutes, over a 4-week period.
Behavioral: Finger-Controlled Game Training
A gamified finger-controlled training program matched in duration, frequency, visual stimulation, and task structure to the eye-movement intervention. Participants control game actions using finger inputs instead of eye movements. The intervention is designed as an active control to account for non-specific effects including engagement, visual exposure, and task expectancy. Participants complete 3-4 sessions per week, approximately 30 minutes per session, for 4 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) Scores
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Cognitive function will be assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), a standardized neurocognitive battery widely used in schizophrenia research. The MCCB consists of nine subtests, including Trail Making Test, Symbol Coding, Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, Spatial Span, Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Mazes, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), Category Fluency Test, Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs, and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test-Managing Emotions. The MCCB evaluates seven cognitive domains: speed of processing, attention/vigilance, working memory, verbal learning, visual learning, reasoning and problem solving, and social cognition. Particular attention will be given to the visual learning domain assessed by BVMT-R, which measures visuospatial memory. Changes in MCCB composite T-score, domain-specific T-scores, and BVMT-R performance from baseline to week 4 will be analyzed.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Change in Fixation Stability Eye Movement Metrics
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Fixation stability tasks will be used to assess participants' ability to maintain stable visual fixation under simple and distracted conditions. Participants will be instructed to keep their gaze on a black dot (0.5° in size) presented at the center of the screen while ignoring peripheral distractor stimuli ("*" mark, 0.5° in size). During the first 5 seconds of each trial, only the central target will be presented (simple fixation condition). During the subsequent 5-10 seconds, distractor stimuli will appear randomly around the target (distracted fixation condition), with varying locations (left/right) and eccentricities (near/far). A total of 10 trials will be conducted. Eye movement data will be recorded throughout the task. Outcome measures will include fixation duration and saccade count, reflecting fixation stability and the ability to suppress involuntary eye movements.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Change in Antisaccade Eye Movement Metrics
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Antisaccade tasks will be used to assess oculomotor inhibitory control and executive regulation. Participants will first fixate on a central cross presented on a white screen. A peripheral target will then appear at different eccentricities, and participants will be instructed to suppress the reflexive saccade toward the target and generate a voluntary saccade toward the mirror position opposite to the target location. The task will include 30 antisaccade trials, with equal numbers of near- and far-target conditions. Outcome measures will include saccade latency, error rate, and saccade velocity, reflecting response initiation, inhibitory control, and oculomotor regulation.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Change in Smooth Pursuit Eye Movement Metrics
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Smooth pursuit tasks will be used to assess participants' ability to accurately track a moving visual target. Participants will be instructed to keep their heads motionless and follow a black dot presented on the screen using their eyes. The target will move according to predefined frequencies and trajectories. In the horizontal/vertical pursuit paradigm, the target will move horizontally and vertically with sinusoidal trajectories for 2.5 seconds each. In the Lissajous pursuit paradigm, the target will move simultaneously in horizontal and vertical directions using Lissajous trajectories with different frequencies and durations, including slow Lissajous pursuit (20 seconds) and fast Lissajous pursuit (10 seconds). Each trial will be repeated once. Outcome measures will include velocity gain, root mean square error (RMSE), and catch-up saccade count, reflecting pursuit accuracy, tracking precision, and compensatory eye movement responses.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Change in Free-Viewing Eye-tracking Metrics
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Free-viewing tasks will be used to assess visual exploration patterns and attentional allocation. Participants will be instructed to freely view 35 static images, including natural landscapes, social scenes, objects, and abstract patterns. Each image will be presented for 10 seconds, with participants maintaining fixation on a central cross between image presentations. Eye movement parameters will be extracted during image viewing. Outcome measures will include fixation count, fixation duration, scan path length, and mean pupil diameter, reflecting visual exploration strategies and attentional allocation.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Psychosis-Risk Symptom Severity (SOPS) Scores
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Psychosis-risk symptom severity will be assessed using the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS), with symptom severity quantified using the Scale of Psychosis-Risk Symptoms (SOPS) in clinical high-risk participants. The SOPS consists of 19 items across four domains: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and general symptoms. Each item is rated on a 7-point scale (0-6), with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity. The total SOPS score ranges from 0 to 114. Changes in total and domain-specific SOPS scores from baseline to week 4 will be evaluated.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Change in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) Scores
Time Frame: Baseline and 4-week post-intervention
Schizophrenia symptom severity will be assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in first-episode and chronic schizophrenia participants. The PANSS consists of 30 items grouped into three subscales: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and general psychopathology. Each item is rated on a 7-point scale (1-7), with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity. The total PANSS score ranges from 30 to 210. Changes in total and subscale PANSS scores from baseline to week 4 will be evaluated.
Baseline and 4-week post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Shanghai Mental Health Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

July 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 30, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 1, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 8, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 8, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ENI202606

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data (IPD) will not be publicly shared due to the sensitive nature of psychiatric clinical data, including participants with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. The dataset contains detailed clinical, cognitive, and eye-tracking information that may increase the risk of re-identification. To protect participant confidentiality and comply with institutional ethics regulations, only aggregated results will be reported in publications.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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