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Verbal working memory impairments in individuals with schizophrenia and their first-degree relatives: Findings from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia

Authors :
Monica E. Calkins
Allan D. Radant
Larry J. Siever
Robert Freedman
Catherine A. Sugar
Nicholas J. Schork
Larry J. Seidman
David L. Braff
Michael F. Green
William S. Stone
Ann Olincy
Bruce I. Turetsky
Raquel E. Gur
Debbie W. Tsuang
Jeremy M. Silverman
Tiffany A. Greenwood
Ruben C. Gur
Neal R. Swerdlow
Ming T. Tsuang
William P. Horan
Jim Mintz
Keith H. Nuechterlein
Kristin S. Cadenhead
Gregory A. Light
Dorcas J. Dobie
Source :
Schizophrenia Research. 103:218-228
Publication Year :
2008
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2008.

Abstract

Working memory (WM) impairment is a promising candidate endophenotype for schizophrenia that could facilitate the identification of susceptibility genes for this disorder. The validity of this putative endophenotype was assessed by determining whether 149 probands with schizophrenia and 337 of their first-degree relatives demonstrated WM impairment as compared to 190 unaffected community comparison subjects. Subjects were participants in the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) project, a seven-site research network that was established to investigate the genetic architecture of endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Participants received comprehensive clinical assessments and completed two verbal WM tasks, one requiring transient on-line storage and another requiring maintenance plus complex manipulation of information by reordering the stimuli. Schizophrenia probands performed worse than the other groups on both tasks, with larger deficits found for the more challenging reordering WM task. The probands' relatives performed more poorly than community comparison subjects on both tasks, but the difference was significant only for the more challenging maintenance plus complex manipulation WM task. This WM impairment was not attributable to diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorder, mood disorders, or substance use disorders in the relatives. In conjunction with evidence that WM abilities are substantially heritable, the current results support the validity and usefulness of verbal WM impairments in manipulation of information as endophenotypes for schizophrenia in large-scale genetic linkage and association studies.

Details

ISSN :
09209964
Volume :
103
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Schizophrenia Research
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....b8d66c5d3cd89ab2502c51be8ace1815