Eye movements as indicators of trait impulsivity and hypomania proneness in healthy adults

Antisaccades are rapid, voluntary gaze shifts away from a visual target that reflect movement control and response inhibition. In patients with bipolar disorder, antisaccade error rate is generally increased, presumably due to enhanced impulsivity present in episodes of mania or hypomania in this disease. Delineating trait versus state impulsivity helps identify risk factors for bipolarity. Here we use an antisaccade protocol to probe trait impulsivity in a cohort of healthy, young adults. We assessed 33 participants (11 males; M = 22.4 yrs) not previously diagnosed with any mood disorder. Participants completed a pro- and antisaccade task and the hypomanic personality scale. The Barrat impulsiveness scale was used for external validation of the antisaccade paradigm. Across all observers, saccade latency and directional errors were significantly increased in antisaccade versus in prosaccade trials. Participants’ mean hypomania proneness and impulsiveness scores were representative of a healthy adult population. We observed small correlations between antisaccade task performance and hypomania proneness, as well as impulsiveness. Previous reports have shown a modest link between antisaccade performance and trait impulsivity. We extend these findings by showing small but systematic correlations between hypomania proneness and antisaccade latency and error rate. We propose that eye movements have the potential to serve as objective indicators of hypomania proneness and impulsivity.