Trial reportPsychopharmacology2017
Medications influencing central cholinergic pathways affect fixation stability, saccadic response time and associated eye movement dynamics during a temporally-cued visual reaction time task.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Eye-tracking biomarkers for glaucoma based on saccadic reaction time: a controlled clinical study.Frontiers in ophthalmology · 2025Trial
- Fixation Task: A Simple Eye Movement Task Reveals an Impairment in Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Effects of tracker location on the accuracy and precision of the Gazepoint GP3 HD for spectacle wearers.Behavior research methods · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleAnticholinergic medications largely exert their effects due to actions on the muscarinic receptor, which mediates the functions of acetylcholine in the peripheral and central nervous systems. In the central nervous system, acetylcholine plays an important role in the modulation of movement.
objectiveThis study investigated the effects of over-the-counter medications with varying degrees of central anticholinergic properties on fixation stability, saccadic response time and the dynamics associated with this eye movement during a temporally-cued visual reaction time task, in order to establish the significance of central cholinergic pathways in influencing eye movements during reaction time tasks.
methodsTwenty-two participants were recruited into the placebo-controlled, human double-blind, four-way crossover investigation. Eye tracking technology recorded eye movements while participants reacted to visual stimuli following temporally informative and uninformative cues. The task was performed pre-ingestion as well as 0.5 and 2 h post-ingestion of promethazine hydrochloride (strong centrally acting anticholinergic), hyoscine hydrobromide (moderate centrally acting anticholinergic), hyoscine butylbromide (anticholinergic devoid of central properties) and a placebo.
resultsPromethazine decreased fixation stability during the reaction time task. In addition, promethazine was the only drug to increase saccadic response time during temporally informative and uninformative cued trials, whereby effects on response time were more pronounced following temporally informative cues. Promethazine also decreased saccadic amplitude and increased saccadic duration during the temporally-cued reaction time task.
conclusionCollectively, the results of the study highlight the significant role that central cholinergic pathways play in the control of eye movements during tasks that involve stimulus identification and motor responses following temporal cues.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.