Sensory and Emotion Processing in Risk for Schizophrenia

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston MA

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating illness with pervasive cognitive, affective, and psychosocial consequences. Further research into the pathogenesis of the illness is essential to preventing the disease process at its earliest stages. Due to their genetic risk and age close to the typical period of conversion to psychosis, adolescent and young adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients will be studied. These individuals may evidence subtler information processing deficits than associated with full manifestation of schizophrenia, providing valuable insight into the early pathogenesis of the illness. The project aims to examine two areas of cognitive functioning as markers of genetic and clinical risk for schizophrenia: 1) sensory gating and 2) working memory performance in the context of different emotions. Further, level of cognitive impairment in these two areas will be associated with 1) more well established neurocognitive tasks and 2) level of clinical risk, as measured by assessments of schizotypy. It is hypothesized that individuals at genetic risk will display impaired latent inhibition and greater interference of negative emotional information than matched controls, with level of impairment associated with degree of schizotypy. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]