Nwabunwanne Emele^1, (emelenwabu@gmail.com), Karin Reuwsaat^2,, Gabrielly Mansour^3,, Maria Araujo^4,, Jeremy Wolfe^5,, Rogerio Panizzutti^6,; ¹Harvard Medical School, ²Federal University of Rio de janeiro

Visual search efficiency relies on the ability to effectively allocate attention around the visual field to detect targets while suppressing distractors. Individuals with schizophrenia often show impairments in visual exploration, potentially reflecting a narrower visual span. Although visual span is believed to be influenced by higher-order cognitive processes, its relationship with cognitive functioning, symptomatology, and medication effects—particularly anticholinergic burden—remains unclear. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we compared visual span during a conjunction search task between individuals with schizophrenia (n = 21) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 21). Visual span was operationalized as the distance of the fixation closest to the target prior to correct identification. Cognitive functioning was assessed using standardized measures of working memory and executive function. Medication effects, including anticholinergic load, were quantified to examine their contribution to visual span variability. Results: Individuals with schizophrenia exhibited a significantly narrower visual span than healthy controls, requiring closer fixations to identify the target (F(1,40) = 12.27, p < .01). Across participants with schizophrenia, smaller visual spans were significantly associated with poorer working memory performance. Higher anticholinergic burden was also linked to reduced visual span, suggesting that both cognitive capacity and medication-related effects influence visual search behavior. Conclusion: Findings confirm that schizophrenia is characterized by reduced visual span during conjunction search and demonstrate that this deficit is shaped by higher-order cognitive functioning and medication effects. Interventions targeting cognitive enhancement and minimizing anticholinergic load may help mitigate visual exploration impairments and improve functional visual processing in schizophrenia.