Do Hyperactive Children Have Manifestations of Hyperactivity in Their Eye Movements?
A study involving 18 hyperkinetic children (from 3- to 12-years old) was conducted to test the hypothesis that hyperactive children manifest the same type of hypermotility in their eyes as in the rest of their body. Ss were observed under a series of test conditions (including manual problem solving) which elicit short and long periods of fixation, pursuit movements, small and large saccadic movements (rapid, involuntary jumping of the eyes from one fixed point to another); and optokinetic nystagmus (rapid involuntary oscillation of the eyeballs); and eye movements were measured by electrooculography. In comparison to controls, hyperkinetic Ss were generally unable to hold their eyes steady either in direct forward or in lateral gaze; Ss tended to continue to use combined head and eye movements at a later age when problem-solving; and Ss tended to have more saccadic movements to non-target areas during pursuit. (Graphs are provided.
