Memory-Guided Saccades in Subacute and Chronic Stroke: Secondary Data Analysis of the N-PEP-12 Clinical Study
Emanuel Ștefănescu,
Maria Balea,
Vlad-Florin Chelaru,
Nicoleta Jemna,
Olivia Verișezan Roșu,
Anamaria Truță,
Adina Dora Stan,
Diana Chira,
Ștefan Strilciuc,
Dafin Mureșanu
Affiliations
Emanuel Ștefănescu
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Maria Balea
RoNeuro Institute for Neurological Research and Diagnostic, 400364 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Vlad-Florin Chelaru
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Nicoleta Jemna
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Olivia Verișezan Roșu
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Anamaria Truță
Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine, and Translational Medicine, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Adina Dora Stan
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Diana Chira
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Ștefan Strilciuc
RoNeuro Institute for Neurological Research and Diagnostic, 400364 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dafin Mureșanu
Department of Neuroscience, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Background: Ischemic stroke (IS) often leads to cognitive and motor impairments. This study aimed to investigate whether Memory-Guided Saccade Tasks (MGSTs) could be used to assess cognitive function in stroke patients. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted on 62 individuals with supratentorial IS. Eye-tracking metrics from MGST were correlated with established neuropsychological assessments, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Age correlated negatively with memory-guided saccade (MGS) accuracy (ρ = −0.274) and positively with late errors (ρ = 0.327). Higher Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores were associated with faster corrective saccades (ρ = 0.259). Increased anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) levels correlated with higher early error rates (ρ = 0.325 and ρ = 0.311, respectively). The Color Trails Test and Digit Span test performance also correlated with various MGS parameters. Conclusions: While some correlations were found between cognitive measures and eye-tracking metrics, further research is needed to validate MGST as a tool for cognitive assessment in a more homogenous stroke population.
