Project Summary

Deanna M. Barch, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2000) of Washington University, is examining brain activity during cognitive processing in siblings of schizophrenic patients and healthy controls.  Subjects will perform cognitive tasks that are thought to be particularly sensitive to cognitive disturbances, and that may put people at risk for developing schizophrenia.  The subjects will also be studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique to quantify brain activity, in order to examine function of a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex.  This work may provide an important starting point toward establishing the causal and developmental relationships among prefrontal cortex dysfunction, cognitive deficits, and symptoms in schizophrenia.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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