Memory Deficits in Children of Parents With Schizophrenia
Cognitive deficits are a central feature of schizophrenia and occur in first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands, even in the absence of psychotic symptoms. A number of cognitive domains have been implicated including measures of response inhibition and working memory. While the stability of cognitive deficits has been demonstrated in individuals with schizophrenia, stability of deficits has not been explored in first-degree relatives. This report focuses on 25 children (ages 6–15 years), all with at least one schizophrenic parent. The children were assessed twice, utilizing inhibitory and working memory tasks, with a mean 2.6 years between visits. Stop reaction time (a measure of motor inhibition) and performance on a counting span task (a measure of verbal working memory) were borderline to mildly impaired (compared with a typically developing comparison group) at both visits with similar effect sizes (stopping task time 1, effect size = 0.46, time 2 effect size = 0.50; counting span time 1 effect size = 0.53, time 2 effect size = 0.42). For these 2 tasks, individual age-adjusted scores also correlated across both time points (r = 0.41–0.76) suggesting that individual children maintained deficits across time. As etiologically driven strategies are developed for the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, expansion of these treatments to relatives who share the cognitive but not the psychotic symptoms may be worth exploring.
Schizophrenia has long been proposed as a neurodevelopmental disorder, where the disease is caused by alterations in brain development that precede, sometimes by years or decades, the onset of diagnostic symptomology. This neurodevelopmental hypothesis has been supported by the finding of neuropsychological deficits in genetically high-risk children, eg, children who are not psychotic but are born to a schizophrenic parent (results across laboratories are well summarized by Seidman et al). While deficits can be identified across a variety of cognitive domains, the largest effects are seen in tasks involving behavioral inhibition, spatial working memory, a combination of inhibition and working memory or in verbal ability. The working memory and inhibitory deficits found in genetically high-risk children and adolescents is similar to that seen in nonpsychotic adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands.
Longitudinal studies of neuropsychological function conducted on individuals affected with schizophrenia conclude that cognitive deficits are relatively stable over the course of the illness; yet there is little literature to date that assesses the stability of cognitive deficits in first-degree relatives. This report focuses on the stability of deficits in working memory and inhibition in children with a schizophrenic parent.
Cognitive deficits are a central feature of schizophrenia and occur in first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands, even in the absence of psychotic symptoms. A number of cognitive domains have been implicated including measures of response inhibition and working memory. While the stability of cognitive deficits has been demonstrated in individuals with schizophrenia, stability of deficits has not been explored in first-degree relatives. This report focuses on 25 children (ages 6–15 years), all with at least one schizophrenic parent. The children were assessed twice, utilizing inhibitory and working memory tasks, with a mean 2.6 years between visits. Stop reaction time (a measure of motor inhibition) and performance on a counting span task (a measure of verbal working memory) were borderline to mildly impaired (compared with a typically developing comparison group) at both visits with similar effect sizes (stopping task time 1, effect size = 0.46, time 2 effect size = 0.50; counting span time 1 effect size = 0.53, time 2 effect size = 0.42). For these 2 tasks, individual age-adjusted scores also correlated across both time points (r = 0.41–0.76) suggesting that individual children maintained deficits across time. As etiologically driven strategies are developed for the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, expansion of these treatments to relatives who share the cognitive but not the psychotic symptoms may be worth exploring.
Schizophrenia has long been proposed as a neurodevelopmental disorder, where the disease is caused by alterations in brain development that precede, sometimes by years or decades, the onset of diagnostic symptomology. This neurodevelopmental hypothesis has been supported by the finding of neuropsychological deficits in genetically high-risk children, eg, children who are not psychotic but are born to a schizophrenic parent (results across laboratories are well summarized by Seidman et al). While deficits can be identified across a variety of cognitive domains, the largest effects are seen in tasks involving behavioral inhibition, spatial working memory, a combination of inhibition and working memory or in verbal ability. The working memory and inhibitory deficits found in genetically high-risk children and adolescents is similar to that seen in nonpsychotic adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands.
Longitudinal studies of neuropsychological function conducted on individuals affected with schizophrenia conclude that cognitive deficits are relatively stable over the course of the illness; yet there is little literature to date that assesses the stability of cognitive deficits in first-degree relatives. This report focuses on the stability of deficits in working memory and inhibition in children with a schizophrenic parent.
Source...