Multiple sclerosis: Cognition and saccadic eye movements

For single memory-guided saccades, MS patients were less accurate and generated more erroneous responses to non-target stimuli. Saccadic latencies were also prolonged. For triple-step memory-guided saccades, MS patients were less accurate and more variable. A number of significant correlations were revealed between measures of each of these characteristics and scores on the range of neuropsychological assessments. These ocular motor measures demonstrate considerable sensitivity with respect to evaluating cognitive function in MS, particularly working memory and inhibitory control processes. This suggests that they could represent the foundation of a user-friendly surrogate marker of disease severity and progression in MS.