Peripheral and central aspects of motor dysfunction were assessed in 12 schizophrenic and 12 normal subjects, using a test of control of finger movement based on the widely used smooth pursuit eye movement task. This was performed in order to investigate the basis of neuromotor dysfunction in schizophrenia. In this task, subjects used finger movement to track a visual target. Simultaneously, an electromyogram of the extensor digitorum communis, the primary muscle utilized in the task, was recorded. Smooth pursuit eye movements were also assessed. Accuracy of finger-based and smooth-pursuit eye movement tracking was analyzed by fast Fourier transform and expressed as a log signal-to-noise ratio. The electromyograms were analyzed by motor unit potential discrimination and by interspike interval histography. Schizophrenics demonstrated significantly poorer finger tracking than did controls, with a mean score of 2.01 +/- 0.63 (SD) versus 2.81 +/- 0.42 (t = 3.52, d.f. = 21, p < 0.005). However, there was no evidence for motor-unit dysfunction. Schizophrenics also performed more poorly on smooth-pursuit eye movement, with a mean score of 2.06 +/- 0.62 versus 3.33 +/- 1.21 (t = 3.21, d.f. = 22, p < 0.005). Severity of extrapyramidal symptoms was correlated with poorer performance on the finger tracking task, but not smooth-pursuit eye movement. These findings support the hypothesis that schizophrenics' tracking abnormalities are due to central nervous system deficits rather than peripheral pathology.