This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Tyrone D. Cannon, PhD; Lisa Eyler Zorrilla, MA; Derri Shtasel, MD; Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD; Ruben C. Gur, PhD; Elysa J. Marco; Paul Moberg, PhD; R. Arlen Price, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1994;51(8):651-661.

Abstract
Objective
To determine whether schizophrenics and their nonschizophrenic siblings have a similar pattern of neuropsychological deficit when compared with normal controls.

Design and Participants
Fifteen probands with schizophrenia, 16 of their nonschizophrenic siblings, and 31 unrelated, demographically balanced, normal individuals underwent evaluation with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. All subjects were screened for history of head injury, neurologic illness, major medical conditions, substance use, and axis I psychiatric disorders other than schizophrenia. Probands underwent evaluation twice: once at intake when half had never received neuroleptic medication and the other half had received none for a minimum of 2 weeks, and again at the 2- to 4-week follow-up, after stabilization with neuroleptic medications.

Results
Both schizophrenics and their nonschizophrenic siblings were impaired neuropsychologically compared with normal controls, with the nonschizophrenic siblings' performance intermediate between that of the schizophrenic siblings and the normal controls on all measures of functioning. The shapes of the deficit profiles of schizophrenic patients and their siblings were similar; in patients, verbal memory, abstraction, attention, and language functions were significantly more affected compared with spatial abilities, spatial memory, and sensorymotor functions, with a nonsignificant trend in the same direction in siblings. Cognitive functioning in patients was found to be stable across changes in medication status and clinical state. Four fifths of patients obtained more deviant scores than their nonschizophrenic siblings. Among the sibling group, those with probable and certain diagnoses of schizotypal personality disorder were more impaired compared with those without schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms.

Conclusion
These results support the hypothesis that impaired information processing aggregates in the family members of schizophrenics and may serve as an indicator of genetic vulnerability to the disorder. Further work is needed to establish whether particular areas of functioning are selectively impaired in relatives and to determine whether the performance deficits are mediated by structural and/or metabolic disturbances in specific brain regions.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Psychology (Dr Cannon and Ms Zorrilla) and Psychiatry (Drs Cannon, Shtasel, R. E. Gur, R. C. Gur, Moberg, and Price and Mss Zorrilla and Marco), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Prefrontal Activation Deficits During Episodic Memory in Schizophrenia
Ragland et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2009;166:863-874.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Genome Screen for Quantitative Trait Loci Influencing Schizophrenia and Neurocognitive Phenotypes
Almasy et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2008;165:1185-1192.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Impairment of self-monitoring: part of the endophenotypic risk for psychosis
VERSMISSEN et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2007;191:s58-s62.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Discrimination and the incidence of psychotic disorders among ethnic minorities in The Netherlands
Veling et al.
Int J Epidemiol 2007;36:761-768.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neurocognitive Endophenotypes in a Multiplex Multigenerational Family Study of Schizophrenia
Gur et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2007;164:813-819.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Course of Neurocognition and Social Functioning in Individuals at Ultra High Risk for Psychosis
Niendam et al.
Schizophr Bull 2007;33:772-781.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia: Neurocognitive Endophenotypes
Gur et al.
Schizophr Bull 2007;33:49-68.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Factors Mediating Cognitive Deficits and Psychopathology Among Siblings of Individuals With Schizophrenia
Delawalla et al.
Schizophr Bull 2006;32:525-537.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cognitive Deficits in Unaffected First-Degree Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients: A Meta-analytic Review of Putative Endophenotypes
Snitz et al.
Schizophr Bull 2006;32:179-194.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Is Impaired Set-Shifting an Endophenotype of Anorexia Nervosa?
Holliday et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2005;162:2269-2275.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neuropsychological Impairment and Its Neurological Correlates in Adult Offspring With Heightened Risk for Schizophrenia and Affective Psychosis
Schubert and McNeil
Am. J. Psychiatry 2005;162:758-766.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Summary of the FDA-NIMH-MATRICS Workshop on Clinical Trial Design for Neurocognitive Drugs for Schizophrenia
Buchanan et al.
Schizophr Bull 2005;31:5-19.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Indicators of Genetic Liability to Schizophrenia: A Sibling Study of Neuropsychological Performance
Thompson et al.
Schizophr Bull 2005;31:85-96.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Low Olfactory Bulb Volume in First-Degree Relatives of Patients With Schizophrenia
Turetsky et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:703-708.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Abnormal fMRI Response of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognitively Intact Siblings of Patients With Schizophrenia
Callicott et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:709-719.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Specific Deficit in Context Processing in the Unaffected Siblings of Patients With Schizophrenia
MacDonald III et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003;60:57-65.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Obstetric complications and risk of schizophrenia: Effect of gender, age at diagnosis and maternal history of psychosis
THOMAS et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2001;179:409-414.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Incidence of psychotic disorders in immigrant groups to The Netherlands
SELTEN et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2001;178:367-372.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genes, environment and schizophrenia
TSUANG et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2001;178 :s18-s24.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Premorbid Functioning in a National Population of Male Twins Discordant for Psychoses
Reichenberg et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2000;157:1514-1516.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Relative Risk of Attention Deficits in Siblings of Patients With Schizophrenia
Egan et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2000;157:1309-1316.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Sensory Gating Deficits Assessed by the P50 Event-Related Potential in Subjects With Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Cadenhead et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2000;157:55-59.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Memory Impairment in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis
Aleman et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 1999;156:1358-1366.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Regional Gray Matter, White Matter, and Cerebrospinal Fluid Distributions in Schizophrenic Patients, Their Siblings, and Controls
Cannon et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1998;55:1084-1091.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Olfactory Function in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Schizophrenia
Kopala et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 1998;155:134-136.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT