Project Summary

Kristin R. Laurens, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of Institute of Psychiatry/King’s College of London and the University of London, aims to identify abnormalities in the structure and function of the brains of children who are at an increased risk for developing schizophrenia by virtue of a family history of the disorder. Determining abnormalities in high-risk children whose brains are developing offers one of the best avenues for targeting intervention programs aimed at preventing onset of the illness. Previous research suggests that many children who develop later schizophrenia are characterized primarily by social withdrawal and anxiety, cognitive impairments, developmental delays, and abnormalities in motor and language function. Some children who later develop schizophrenia, however, are instead characterized primarily by early-onset conduct problems that persist into adulthood. Using magnetic resonance imaging techniques, the proposed study will examine the structure of the brains of 11-year-old children and how the children use their brains while they perform tasks involving memory and motor control and when they make errors on the tasks. The study will investigate whether children with primarily social withdrawal and anxiety symptoms have different structural and functional brain abnormalities than children with primarily conduct disorder symptoms. The study also will examine whether children’s brain function is related to genes that appear to increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia. Findings should contribute to understanding how and why schizophrenia develops, and will inform the design of treatment programs aimed at preventing schizophrenia.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia\Molecular

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