Neurobehavioral Deficits at Adolescence in Children at Risk for Schizophrenia

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Abstract
SCHIZOPHRENIC patients show neurobehavioral deficits in a variety of motor, visual-motor, attentional, and cognitive tasks.1-6 While some neurobehavioral signs may simply accompany symptoms of schizophrenic illness, family studies suggest that some may also be indicators of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. First-degree nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenic patients are more likely than individuals with no schizophrenic relatives to have abnormalities in smooth-pursuit eye movements,7-9 grip-induced muscle tension,10 perceptual motor speed,11,12 sustained attention,13,14 and mental flexibility.15-17 Offspring of schizophrenics show deficits on the Continuous Performance Test,18-21 the Span of Apprehension Test,22 eye-tracking tasks,23,24 the visual backward masking procedure,25 and fine motor coordination tasks.26-29 Anomalous patterns of neurobehavioral development have been observed in offspring of schizophrenics as early as the first days of life.30-39 Debate continues about which specific neurobehavioral signs show the greatest sensitivity and specificity to schizophrenia and whether specific or general deficits are better indicators of vulnerability to schizophrenia.35-40