138

a reliable cognitive screening tool, was administered to 145

individuals from 10 multigenerational families: standardized
scoring was applied. Subjects were classified as high, intermediate, and low genetic risk, respectively: schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (SZ, n=33), schizophrenia spectrum
disorders and obligate carriers (SP, n=261, and unaffected
(UA, n=86). Nonparametric ANOVAs, correlations, and
multiple regression analyses (MRA) were performed. We
hypothesized that cognitive impairment would be greater in
high (SZ) and intermediate (SP) risk groups than in UA, and
would be correlated with negative symptoms. As expected, SZ
( M d n - 2 5 ) and SP (Mdn =27) groups had lower total MMSE
scores than the UA group ( M d n - 2 8 ) (p=0.0001; p=0.03,
respectively): differences between the SZ and the SP group
showed a trend toward significance (p=0.10). SZ and SP
groups had lower MMSE attention sub-scores than the UA
group (p=0.0001: p - 0 . 0 1 , respectively), with no significant
difference between SZ and SP groups. MMSE total scores were
highly correlated with PANSS negative symptom scores (r~-0.34, p-0.0001 ), and less so with positive symptom scores
(r~ = -0.18, p = 0.03 ). M RA revealed that education accounted
for 30%, risk group 17%, age 9%, and negative symptoms 8%,
of the variance in total MMSE scores. There were no sex
effects. These results suggest that the MMSE may be an easy
to administer indicator of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia and related disorders. Genetic factors may be important
determinants of cognitive impairmenL especially attention, in
familial schizophrenia.

SPATIAL W O R K I N G M E M O R Y A N D
S T R A T E G Y F O R M A T I O N IN
S C H I Z O P H R E N I C PATIENTS A N D T H E I R
FIRST D E G R E E R E L A T I V E S

PLANNING STRATEGIES DURING TRAILM A K I N G TEST P E R F O R M A N C E IN

SCHIZOPHRENICS AND HEALTHY
RELATIVES
W. W61wer, P. Falkai, M. Streit, W. Gaebel
Dept. qIP.u,ehiatt3., Universio, of DiisseldotT[i PO 120510, 40605
Dfisseldor~; Germany
Using visual scan path analyses during the performance of
the trail-making test (TMT) we have recently shown that acute
schizophrenics throughout their whole hospital stay have
difficulties in parallel processing of visuomotor search as an
indicator of planning s t r a t e g i e s a n d manumotor tracking,
resulting in poorer TMT performance. These results could be
replicated in an independent sample of remitted schizophrenics
suggesting that dysfunctional visual scanning behavior might
be a trait-characteristic in schizophrenics. Moreover, results of
special TMT variations designed to disentangle the various
psychological functions tapped by the TMT point to a reduced
cognitive flexibility in schizophrenics, most probably related to
dysfunctions involving the prefrontal lobe. The present study
on schizophrenics and their relatives should add further evidence to the interpretation that these dysfunctions reflect a
trait-characteristic.
Until now, 20 families with a total of 50 subjects participated
in the ongoing study. Index patients as well as their relatives
without t%rmer psychiatric history underwent careful diagnostical interview (CIDI). Preliminary analyses of visuomotor behavior during TMT-pertbrmance revealed a distinct tendency for
relatives without any psychiatric diagnosis to show planning
strategies comparable to schizophrenic patients resulting in
poorer TMT-performance. Accordingly, the cognitive dysfunctions underlying these visuomotor peculiarities probably reflect
a trait-characteristic in schizophrenics.

T. T o u l o p o u l o u , R . G . M o r r i s , R . M . M u r r a y

hTstitute ql PsychiattT. Department o[ Psyehologieal Medicine.

De Cresp(~,,ny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF. UK
The study investigated spatial working memory and strategy
formation in 37 schizophrenic patients, comparing their performance to 45 first degree relatives and 48 controls, matched
with the schizophrenic patients in terms of age and socioeconomic background. The three groups were tested on the
EXECUTIVE-GOLF task, a computerised procedure involving
the subjects searching around a set of specific locations and
subsequently remembering not to return to successful positions.
The schizophrenic group was significantly impaired in strategy
formation. However, no significant difference between groups
was found in spatial memory performance, as measured in
terms of the number of erroneous returns between searches,
after covarying for iQ. Initial analysis suggested that relatives
of patients were also significantly impaired in their strategy
formation, but this effect was nullified when age was used as a
covariate in the analysis.

L I N K A G E OF EYE T R A C K I N G
D Y S F U N C T I O N TO D N A - M A R K E R S O N
C H R O M O S O M E 6p21 IN S C H I Z O P H R E N I A
V. Arolt ~, R. Lencer 1, M. Schiirmann 2, S. Purmann 2.
K. Krecker 1, E. Schwinger 2
Department qf Psychiatl 3' and 2Department o/Human Genetics,
~btiversity o/ Luebeck School ql Medicine. Ratzeburger
Alice 160, D-23538 Luebeck, Germany
Defining the borders of the schizophrenia spectrum is one of
the most difficult problems in linkage studies of schizophrenia.
The employment of a putative phenotypical indicator of genetic
predisposition, like Eye Tracking Dysfunction (ETD) might be
of considerable advantage. It had already been suggested that
ETD clusters in families with multiple occurrence of schizophrenia and is inherited by a major gene. We investigated 10
families with multiple occurrence of schizophrenia. Using a
monogenic dominant inheritance model and screening 18 D N A