Quantification of Eye Blinks and Eye Tics in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome by Means of Computer-Assisted Observational Analysis-Clinical Application

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent and involuntary motor tics (e.g., eye blinking, facial twitches, neck jerking) and vocal tics (e.g., throat clearing, squealing, grunting, yelling) as well as complex behavioral symptoms (Shapiro et al., 1988). The tics usually show a waxing and waning over the course of time, are often exacerbated by stress (Leckman et al., 1993), but can also be temporarily suppressed.