Journal
SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH
Volume 67, Issue 2-3, Pages 123-130Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(03)00187-7
Keywords
schizophrenia; genetic predisposition; neuropsychology; cognition; school-age children
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By studying neuropsychological performance in children genetically at-risk for schizophrenia, greater understanding may be obtained regarding the developmental processes of schizophrenia and associated cognitive weaknesses. A variety of cognitive deficits in genetically at-risk children have been reported. The present study was designed to examine cognitive tasks that have traditionally differentiated children genetically at-risk for schizophrenia (e.g. working memory) from normal children, while also assessing abilities that have received scant attention in this population. Aspects of emotional perception, verbal abilities, inhibition, visuo-spatial skills, and working memory were assessed in children of schizophrenic parents and normal children. Significant differences in performances were identified in at-risk children on measures of verbal skills, working memory and inhibition. Findings suggest that children genetically at-risk for developing schizophrenia exhibit neurocognitive weaknesses generally consistent with those noted in the literature. However, inhibition also appeared to be a cognitive process that significantly differentiated the groups. The possibility of a developmental expression of neurocognitive deficits is discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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