Objective
To compare eye movements in patients with schizophrenia against healthy patients during facial recognition of emotions test.

Background & Aims
Schizophrenia is a multifactorial disease that affects neurodevelopment and predisposes to neuro-degeneration. It has an estimated prevalence of 1% of the population. Motor symptoms which correlate to neurological deterioration, are a measurable sign for diagnosis. In 2003 Williams et al. observed that patients with schizophrenia presented alterations in eye movements that correlate with the facial recognition pattern.

Material and methods
A case-control research was carried out, making use of a cross-sectional observational analysis with patients diagnosed with schizophrenia against healthy patients attending at the Psychiatric Clinic "Dr. Everardo Neumann Peña " at San Luis Potosí City.

Results
The group of healthy patients (control group) had an average of correct answers of 14 out of 40; the group of patients with schizophrenia (study group) had an average of 13 out of 40 correct answers. The average distance traveled and the average speed were higher in the study group, with a difference of 18,759 pixels for distance and 156.32 pixels/second for speed. The study group had a total upper average fixation in the nose, mouth and left eye compared to the control group.

Conclusions
This study shows that there is a pattern in the eye movements of patients with schizophrenia during the recognition of facial emotions compared to healthy patients.

COMPARISON OF EYE MOVEMENTS BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND HEALTHY PATIENTS DURING THE RECOGNITION OF FACIAL EMOTIONS TEST