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Psychotic syndromes can be understood as disorders of adaptation to social context. Although heritability is often
emphasized, onset is associated with environmental factors such as early life adversity, growing up in an urban
environment, minority group position and cannabis use, suggesting that exposure may have an impact on the
developing ‘social’ brain during sensitive periods. Therefore heritability, as an index of genetic influence, may be of
limited explanatory power unless viewed in the context of interaction with social effects. Longitudinal research is needed
to uncover gene–environment interplay that determines how expression of vulnerability in the general population may
give rise to more severe psychopathology.
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~40 ility
Se
ve
Bias may arise, for example, when cases or controls are selected,
~40%
y
%
ab
rit
rit
ve
He ~40
Herit
y
bility
followed over time, or interviewed in such a way that they are more or
70 lity
Se
rit %
0– bi
%
less likely to report environmental exposure in the case-control
ab
~4 rita
ilit
He
comparison (for example, a case-control study of psychotic syndrome
y
GxE and cannabis use recruiting controls from a selected community with
Help Reduced social very strict lifestyle rules).
seeking competence Confounding occurs when, for example, an apparent difference in
Heritability
exposure rate between cases and controls is due to a third factor
M car
te h
fil alt
~80–90%
en e
re he
Social associated with both exposure and, independent of that, with the
ta filt
r
l h er
ca tal
conflict illness (for example, cases are much younger than controls therefore
ea
en
Disorder prevalence: 3%
lth
M
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Similar to the effect of minority group position, contextual effects disorder, who are at increased genetic risk to develop psychotic disorder,
involving the wider social environment may point to what mediates the the psychotomimetic effect of cannabis is much greater than in con-
effect of urban environments. Thus, there is evidence that risk for psych- trols45, as is the risk to develop psychotic disorder when growing up in an
otic syndrome associated with indicators of social maladjustment, for urban environment11,49 (Fig. 2).
example single parent family, single marital status and residential instab-
ility, similarly varies with the degree to which this represents the exception Cognitive mechanisms of environmental impact
in relation to the wider social environment37,38. This type of interaction A large body of literature indicates that early social, cognitive and emo-
between individual-level and area-level social ‘fragmentation’ may medi- tional development is important to later health and material outcomes.
ate the effect of the urban environment38. However, the cognitive alterations in schizophrenia and related psych-
otic disorders not only include the neuropsychological domains of
The evidence for cannabis use attention, memory, processing speed and reasoning, but also the corre-
Randomized experimental studies show that delta-9-tetrahydrocanna- lated, although not entirely overlapping, higher order domain of social
binol, the main psychotropic component of cannabis, causes transitory cognition. Social cognition revolves around concepts such as attribution,
psychotic symptoms and impaired cognition in healthy volunteers39, intention, agency and emotion, that underlie the mental operations
and that individuals at genetic risk for psychotic syndrome display an guiding social behaviour (for example, the correct interpretation of
exaggerated psychotic response40. Meta-analytical work shows that the another person’s intentions or emotions, referred to as mentalizing
association between psychotic syndrome and cannabis is consistent, also ability or ‘theory of mind’50) and self-representation (the differentiation
after adjustment for a range of confounding factors41. Cannabis use may between the ‘self’ and ‘other’ that prevents misattribution of agency—
reflect self-medication for early expression of psychotic vulnerability or failure to recognize oneself as the source of one’s actions, thoughts or
symptoms, and there is evidence that both self-medication (psychosis feelings, due to malfunction in the normal capacity to ignore self-gen-
proneness may induce cannabis use) and causation (cannabis induces erated sensations because they are predictable). In other words, social
psychosis proneness) apply42, although other work has failed to produce cognition is an important mediator in shaping a representation of one-
evidence for self-medication (ref. 43 and R. Kuepper, J. van Os, R. Lieb, self in relation to the social environment; impaired social cognition may
H. U. Wittchen and C. Henquet, results not shown). Studies addressing result in aberrant representations and psychotic symptoms.
genetic confounding by examining if indices of genetic risk predict A direct link between mentalizing ability and symptoms is suggested
exposure44 , and by controlling for genetic risk45,46, do not suggest that by the fact that delusions observed in psychotic disorder frequently
genetic confounding can explain much of the observed association
present as alterations in social inference; for example, paranoid delu-
between cannabis and psychotic syndrome.
sions involve erroneous attribution of harmful intentions to behaviour
The association between cannabis use and psychotic outcomes has
observed in others. Mentalizing ability is also associated with reasoning
been demonstrated at the level of (1) cognition outcomes, cerebral
biases observed in psychotic disorder, particularly a data gathering bias,
neuroimaging phenotypes, and at the clinical level of psychotic syn-
referred to as ‘jumping to conclusions’, underlying severity of delusional
drome as well as at the subclinical level of behavioural expression of
vulnerability in the form of subtle psychotic experiences in non-patients;
0.6% Urbanicity-related risk of 0.06 Cannabis use effect size
(2) in case-control, case-sibling, longitudinal (birth) cohort and cross- schizophrenia admission on positive schizotypy
0.5% 0.05
sectional studies; (3) in experimental studies as well as observational
0.4% 0.04
studies; (4) across individuals at average (healthy controls), higher than
0.3% 0.03
average (for example, siblings of patients) and high genetic risk (for
example, patients) for psychotic syndrome and across natural variation 0.2% 0.02
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ideation. Similarly, psychotic symptoms such as ‘made’ feelings or move- that social cognition was more strongly associated with community
ments (passivity phenomena), thought insertion, or auditory hallucina- functioning than neuropsychological domains of cognition. This find-
tions can be understood as impaired sense of agency, secondary to ing was mostly due to stronger associations with theory of mind62,
sensory prediction deficits51, resulting in attribution of one’s own actions, suggesting that environment-cognition-symptoms-outcome relation-
feelings, thoughts and inner speech to external sources. Latent vulner- ships in psychotic disorder may be mediated to a degree by the ability
ability in this domain can become expressed following environmental to correctly infer the mental states of others in the social environment.
exposure. For example, exposure to environmental variation in the form
of short-term sensory deprivation or random noise has been shown to Biological mechanisms of environmental impact
result in hallucinatory experiences in susceptible individuals52,53. Exposures to environmental variation during developmentally sensitive
Mentalizing ability normally emerges during preschool years and is periods are essential for the normal development of neuronal connec-
environment-driven in that it is highly dependent on day-to-day social tivity underlying functional abilities of the human brain. Early neglect
interactions. Selective deprivation of access to early social interactions and and life course environmental insults that disinhibit stress signalling
actively seeking out social information by, for example, hearing impair- pathways can lead to impaired neuronal responsiveness and symptoms
ment or exposure to adversity/deprivation during critical developmental of profound prefrontal cortical dysfunction, providing a direct link
phases, may interfere with the acquisition of mentalizing ability and between the environment and the cognitive impairments observed in
increase risk of later psychotic symptoms. Evidence to support this notion psychotic syndrome63.
comes from studies showing significant delays in the mastery of mentaliz- Whereas genetic factors moderate the sensitivity of specific types of
ing ability in hard-of-hearing54 and maltreated55 children on the one hand, neural cells or circuits as well as the timing of environmental sensitivity
and, on the other, an association between hearing impairment56,57 and during development64, other mechanisms have been described that medi-
developmental trauma21 and later psychotic symptoms or psychotic dis- ate imprinting of environment and experience, acting in parallel at differ-
order in young people. There is evidence that other exposures that may ent biological levels (Fig. 3b). The timing of environmental exposures
increase risk for schizophrenia, such as head injury58 and methampheta- associated with psychotic disorder, viewed in relation to the developmental
mine use59, also interfere with the development of mentalizing ability60,61, biology of normal experience-dependent brain development (Fig. 4), is
suggesting a more general link between the environment, social cognition compatible with extensive developmental alterations having an impact
and psychotic disorder. in the areas of cognition and emotion, as observed in psychotic disorder.
The clinical relevance of social cognition is apparent in its association Age-dependent, developmental expression of subclinical psychotic
with course and outcome of schizophrenia and related psychotic dis- experiences in adolescence are mostly transient; however, repeated
orders, particularly as regards social competence and community func- exposure to environmental risk factors may cause subclinical psychotic
tioning. A recent study presenting 48 independent meta-analyses on experiences to persist and become more severe, resulting in onset of
associations between 12 a priori identified neuropsychological and psychotic illness in a minority of individuals20. These data are suggestive
social cognitive domains and 4 domains of functional outcome showed of a mechanism of sensitization. There is evidence that exposure to
b Biological synergism
DNA
Social world
Cellular Neurocircuits representation
RNA Senses
Protein Social
interaction
Organism
Environment
Figure 3 | Schematic illustration of gene–environment interplay at the (CNV), DNA methylation, chromatin structure and histone tail alterations.
levels of epidemiology and biology. The left part of a represents relationships Epidemiological studies may focus on the identification of statistically
between environmental exposures (E), genetic liability (G) and the phenotype, significant marginal effects of individual factors or the statistical interaction
that is, psychotic syndrome and related liability phenotypes. Genes may control between (proxy) environmental exposures and genetic variant(s); evidence for
environmental exposure (arrow from G to E), genes may control statistical interaction may be pursued to identify biological synergism, or the
environmental sensitivity (arrow from G to arrow E to phenotype), the co-action of genes and environment at the biological level. Panel b illustrates
phenotype may induce reverse causality (arrow from phenotype to E) and the the interrelations between the various levels of biology mediating mental
environment may occasion (epigenetic) mutations (arrow from E to G). representation of the social world, and the numerous ways that environmental
Measurement of environmental exposures often represent proxies of unknown factors may impact on or interact with these. These interactions may be studied
mediating factors, and measures of genetic risk may be epidemiological in different organisms and model systems using observational and
(indirect) or molecular (direct). Current genetic and epigenetic variations experimental study designs.
comprise single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), copy number variations
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Prenatal Postnatal
Conception Birth Puberty
Year 1 2 4 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Cannabis
Pre/perinatal factors
Environment
Trauma
Urban upbringing
a Brain:
Grey matter organization
Neurogenesis
Axonal growth
Myelinization
Synaptogenesis
Synaptic pruning
Neuro-endocrine regulation
b Neurocognition:
Sustained attention
Selective attention
Working memory
Language, receptive
productive
Private speech
Inner speech
Analogical reasoning
Meta-cognition
c Affect:
Basic emotions
Complex emotions
Emotional regulation
Reward experience
d Social cognition:
Emotion recognition
Attachment
Self-concept and identity
Theory of mind
Figure 4 | Schematic illustration of the approximate timing of the (in b, c and d). The grey colour intensities of the bars in a–d, and around the
development of the human brain, functional abilities, and impact of environmental exposures, indicate the approximate magnitude of the process
environmental exposures. Arrows reflect impact of environmental factors or the approximate strength of development or maximum exposure over time.
associated with psychotic syndrome. Grey bars indicate the approximate The developmental windows for the functional abilities in neurocognition,
developmental periods during which the processes depicted in the column are affect and social cognition (in b, c and d) are only given for the postnatal period.
active (in a, around environmental exposures) or are being established/develop The red box indicates the window of maximum additive environmental impact.
adversity early in life renders individuals more sensitive to the effects of studies in a variety of mammalian species has shown that repeated expo-
stress in adulthood and more prone to experience anomalous percep- sure has sustained impact on regulation of mesolimbic dopaminergic
tions (such as flashbacks)—referred to as behavioural sensitization65,66. neurotransmission at different biological levels: (1) molecular biological
It has been proposed that early/repeated exposure to environmental alterations including induction of transcription factors and altered chro-
risks results in increased mesolimbic dopamine reactivity67—known matin plasticity; (2) chemical alterations including abnormal dopamin-
as endogenous sensitization. Exposure to many relevant environmental ergic drive associated with alterations in phasic and tonic dopaminergic
risk factors in animals, for example prenatal infection, prenatal stress, firing; (3) induction of several signal transduction pathways; (4) altered
prenatal malnutrition, early life adversity, adolescent cannabis use, ratio of dopamine D2 and D1 receptor levels; (5) electrophysiological
repeated psychostimulant exposure and social defeat stress, have all alterations; (6) structural alterations of dendritic spines; and (7) increased
been shown to induce altered dopamine neurotransmission and sens- levels of dopamine receptors in the high-affinity state. Animal research
itization of mesolimbic dopamine neurons in early adulthood, resulting shows that many environmental exposures (for example prenatal
in augmented expression of psychosis-related phenotypes. In humans, a stress68) also disrupt prefrontal cortex function and corticolimbic inter-
sensitized state of the striatal dopamine system may be brought about by actions, which may be linked to observations of impaired social cognition
administration of a few doses of the psychostimulant amphetamine, following childhood trauma in humans. Although it may be attractive to
another exposure associated with psychotic illness59. Evidence from propose that perturbation of corticolimbic circuits precedes and/or
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mediates mesolimbic sensitization, research regarding this issue remains the consequences of exposures during environmentally sensitive periods
inconclusive. on different biological levels during brain development as well as on
Most of the work on the neurobiology of psychotic syndrome to date psychological and behavioural phenotypes. Extension of multidisciplin-
has focused on alterations in neurotransmitter systems. The dopamine ary translational studies modelling environmental impacts, genetic mod-
hypothesis has survived several decades, its current version69 postulating eration thereof, and their impact on behaviours associated with human
that multiple environmental and genetic risks during development mental illness liability phenotypes, for example social cognition, is there-
interact to funnel through a single final common pathway of presynaptic fore necessary. Table 1 summarizes potentially fruitful strategies, and
striatal hyperdopaminergia causing delusions and hallucinations. Given challenges, of animal studies in this area. These strategies will be particu-
that dopaminergic function is intertwined with, and regulated by, larly fruitful when they entail the integration of (1) biological underpin-
GABAergic, glutamatergic and endocannabinoid signalling, current ning of social phenotypes, (2) biological read-outs at various cellular and
views about environmental impact not only incorporate neurodevelop- molecular levels, (3) biological read-outs from various brain regions and
mental aberrations in these systems, but also attempt to take into cell types, (4) experimental designs of (repeated) environmental expo-
account possible alterations in myelination, synapse formation, the sures during developmentally sensitive time windows, and (5) dynamic
immune system and mitochondrial energy metabolism. Figure 5 illus- genetic manipulations during development, followed by multidomain
trates neural circuits thought to be relevant in mesolimbic neurotrans- behavioural phenotyping.
mission and psychotic disorder, the impact of environmental exposures
on these regions and circuits as shown in human studies, and the effect Mechanisms of gene–environment interplay
of repeated environmental exposures on top-down cognitive control Given evidence that genes may have an impact on risk for psychotic
over bottom-up sensory input in the nucleus accumbens, giving rise syndrome by altering environmental sensitivity, gene–environment
to aberrant development of mentalizing ability and self-representation. interaction research is a logical next step but in practice remains very
Whether or not psychotic disorder results from a single pathway of rare, because to date there has been little collaboration between ‘envir-
functional interaction between prefrontal network dysregulation and onmental’ and ‘genetic’ groups in this area. Gene–environment inter-
altered mesolimbic dopamine signalling remains to be established. action studies are extremely cost-effective, as both genetic and
environmental information is collected in a single effort under the same
The challenge of translational approaches phenotypic assessment, replacing the current duplicated and unrelated
Novel translational approaches using both observational and experi- efforts to collect genetic information in one sample and environmental
mental human and animal studies will be essential to decipher further information in another.
Neurocognition
Prefrontal cortex Cingulate
Prefrontal cortex
Ventral pallidum cortex
Social cognition
Top-down
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Neuroendocrine
regulation
Figure 5 | Schematic overview of neural circuits thought to be relevant in the ventral tegmental area, increased dopamine levels enhancing limbic
mesocorticolimbic neurotransmission and psychotic disorder, illustration signalling and attenuating cortical control91. A mesolimbic hyperdopaminergic
of reported environmental impact on these regions and circuits in human state may thus diminish the impact of regulatory cognitive processes and
studies, and the effect of repeated environmental exposures on the contribute to aberrant representations of salient stimuli and altered reward-
regulation of bottom-up sensory input and top-down cognitive control by related learning, two features of impaired information processing in patients
the nucleus accumbens. The left panel schematically summarizes the main with psychotic syndrome. Red star symbols indicate reported associations
brain regions and their interconnections involved in the pathophysiology of between exposure to childhood trauma90,92–95 and cannabis use96–99 on the one
schizophrenia. Evidence suggests a close connection between positive hand, and functional or structural alterations from human studies on the other;
symptoms in psychotic disorder, altered mesolimbic dopaminergic findings of environmental impact only refer to brain regions enclosed by dashed
neurotransmission in the brain, and environmental exposures. Mesolimbic lines. The right panel illustrates how repeated exposure to environmental
neurotransmission encompasses the nucleus accumbens as the site of factors may result in a ‘sensitized state’, representing a dysregulated balance
integration of bottom-up sensory experiences with top-down cognitive control between, on the one hand, activation of the nucleus accumbens by hippocampal
of dopamine neurotransmission, thus regulating dopamine firing in the ventral and amygdalar projections and, on the other, inhibitory control of the nucleus
tegmental area via GABAergic feedback through the ventral pallidum. The accumbens by glutamatergic projections from the prefrontal cortex91. The
activity of the mesocorticolimbic circuit is thus subserved by reciprocal resulting enhancement of bottom-up sensory experiences without appropriate
connections with limbic and frontal cortical areas; it mediates various functions top-down cognitive control is proposed to underlie aberrant representations of
among which to maintain an updated representation of the social world. The the social world. Note: for reasons of clarity, this schematic overview does not
integration is co-determined by the magnitude of the dopaminergic input from depict all anatomical brain regions and their interconnections.
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Table 1 | Future perspectives and challenges for animal studies of psychotic disorder phenotypes
Research domain Strategy Challenges
Development Identification of environmentally sensitive periods during development Valid measurement of relevant functional abilities across
of higher cerebral functional abilities, and key regulatory signalling species.
pathways. Differential developmental timing between species.
Timing, severity, Well-controlled experimental administration and manipulation of Exact factors underlying ‘proxy’ risk factors currently unknown.
duration environmental exposures. Transferability of (experience of) social stress between humans
and frequency of Deciphering pre- and postnatal effects using cross-fostering experiments. and other animal species unclear.
environmental Investigation of multiple offspring generations after environmental Temporal sequence of exposures in psychotic disorder not clear.
exposures in effect exposure of first generation.
on adult phenotypes Combined exposure to different environmental factors.
Genetic control of Dynamic manipulation of gene expression during development, for Translating neurodevelopmental periods across species.
environmentally example, using Cre-lox technology and/or tetracycline-activated Differentiating the effects of the homologous endogenous gene
sensitive systems, small interference RNAs, or optogenetic manipulation of that is expressed in conjunction with the corresponding human
developmental neuronal activity. transgene.
windows Extrapolation of rodent genetic manipulation to human genetic
risk variants, including copy number variations.
Deciphering putative differences in genetic drive of phenotypes
in various animal species.
Multidomain Combined assessment of various behavioural domains: neurocognition, Enhancing uniformity in behavioural testing across laboratories.
phenotyping motivation, stress reactivity, social cognition, socially transferable learning. Assessing subjective experience of psychiatric phenotypes in
Combined assessment of experience-dependent adaptation at different species other than humans.
biological levels: molecular (gene expression, epigenetics), cellular
(dendritic spines), and functional (electrophysiology) levels.
Temporal sequence Studying environmental impact on salience attribution using Detection of ‘real’ hallucinatory experiences and delusions in
of biological behavioural measures of reward representation and associative learning. animals.
alterations Linking sensitization of mesolimbic to other neurotransmitter systems, Differentiation of mediating and moderating role of biological
underlying the path neuronal circuits, including their myelinated connections, and processes that are changed after environmental exposure.
from neuroendocrine regulation.
environmental Explore other possible mechanisms not yet clearly linked to environment
exposure to and need to conduct experimental studies of environmental impact on
psychosis domains these.
Comparative Explore various animal species and strains for naturally occurring Experimental manipulation of social environmental factors in
ethology differences in psychosis-related phenotypes, such as social cognitive different social contexts, including the natural habitat.
abilities, and underlying neurobiology.
To date, the vast majority of gene–environment interaction studies of As individual genes interact in complex manners with other genes
the psychosis syndrome have used indirect measures of genetic risk, such and with non-coding sequences, it may be furthermore productive to (1)
as genetic risk for psychotic syndrome that is shared with an ill first- combine pathway analyses in genome-wide-association studies with
degree relative, or expressed as psychotic syndrome-related cognitive environmental-wide assessments and explore gene–environment-wide
impairments12,13. Studies modelling genetic risk as a single variable interactions (GEWIS)70, (2) study the effect of complete patient gen-
reflecting the hypothesized net genetic effect will continue to be of omes in interaction with specific environmental exposures by sampling
importance; the next wave of studies may benefit from enhanced inte- accessible tissue sources and expose cultured cells to specific environ-
gration of the timing, severity and experience of environmental exposures, mental factors to observe subsequent biological alterations, (3) study
richer genetic contrasts (for example, by including first-, second- and prospectively sampled biological tissues in order to investigate longi-
third-degree relatives or using extended twin-family designs), (semi-) tudinal changes in (regulation of) gene expression as a result of environ-
experimental designs and more extended characterization of the relevant mental exposures74 during the follow-up period, and correlate these to
liability phenotypes within the same study design. longitudinal alterations in liability phenotypes. Finally, (4) recent work
A considerable novel challenge will be to examine differential sensitivity suggests that rare structural DNA variants, or copy number variants,
for the environment using molecular genetic measures of risk (Fig. 3). contribute broadly to neurodevelopmental phenotypes including both
Several approaches can be envisaged. First, interactions between molecu- schizophrenia and autism4, and similar evidence of non-specific contri-
lar genetic variation (common and rare single nucleotide polymorphisms, bution to both schizophrenia and autism has been reported for minority
copy number variants, epigenetic modifications) and environmental mea- group position75,76 and advanced parental, particularly paternal, age76,77.
sures can be modelled using statistical approaches (Fig. 3a). Although this These findings may point to specific forms of gene–environment inter-
requires new approaches, the field is developing very rapidly, providing a play having an impact on neurodevelopmental alterations. For example,
range of possible solutions70. Even though statistical models do not pro- advanced paternal age may reflect a mechanism of cumulative environ-
vide direct information on the parameter of interest—how genes and mental exposure affecting the male germline through epigenetic
environment jointly have an impact on biology (biological synergism)— mechanisms, causing developmental perturbations that increase risk
methods exist that allow for an estimation of the relevance of the statistical across a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders.
interaction in relation to underlying biological synergism71. Statistical
interaction can be examined using a hypothesis-based approach, based Beyond GxE: environmental sensitivity outcomes
on insights into the biological mechanisms associated with environmental Aetiological research in psychiatry overwhelmingly focuses on proposed
risks and molecular genetic effects, allowing for the formulation of func- disorder-specific causes. However, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is highly
tionally plausible hypotheses72,73, a discovery approach using mass marker predictive of virtually all other Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders in
information70, or a combination of the two46. Second, synergism between the same person78. In addition, research has shown that the cognitive
genes and environment can be examined dynamically, in animals or alterations, psychosis (hallucinations and delusions) and affective dysre-
humans, at the level of an experimental biological, cerebral or psychomet- gulation observed in psychotic disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar dis-
ric phenotype (Fig. 3b). Experimental studies thus represent an important order) are also prevalent in common mental disorders (anxiety
source of follow-up validation of findings from initial studies focusing on disorders, depression), and that differences between the two groups are
statistical interaction. quantitative rather than qualitative79,80. The relative non-specificity of
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RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE
symptoms in psychiatric disorders extends to the level of familial aggrega- developmental trajectories, with environmentally sensitive periods,
tion. For example, the non-affected siblings of patients with psychotic longitudinal research on gene–environment interplay driving variation
disorder display cognitive alterations compared to well controls, one of in behavioural expression of liability, that subsequently may give rise to
the reasons why cognitive alterations are considered a ‘core’ marker of more severe and more ‘co-morbid’ expressions of psychopathology and
genetic risk for schizophrenia. However, siblings of patients with common need for care, is required to identify the causes and trajectories of the
mental disorders also display cognitive alterations, albeit to a lesser psychotic syndrome. Examination of differential sensitivity to the
degree81. Similarly, although a family history of schizophrenia is associated environment requires technology to assess directly situated phenotypes
with the strongest relative risk, almost any psychiatric disorder in first- indexing dynamic, within-person environmental reactivity as substrate
degree relatives is associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia. for molecular genetic studies; parallel multidisciplinary translational
Indeed, in terms of attributable risk, nearly 30% of schizophrenia in the research, using novel paradigms, may help identify underlying mechan-
population can be attributed to psychiatric family history in general, isms and point the way to possible interventions.
compared to 6% that is attributable to a family history of schizophrenia
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signalling in the integration of top-down cognitive control and bottom-up input. Acknowledgements The authors thank P. R. Hof, C. Morgan and M. Wichers for
92. Mueller, S. C. et al. Early-life stress is associated with impairment in cognitive comments on earlier versions of this paper. Supported by the Geestkracht program of
control in adolescence: an fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 48, 3037–3044 the Dutch Health Research Council (ZON-MW, grant number 10-000-1002), and the
(2010). European Community’s Seventh Framework Program under grant agreement No.
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response to a psychological stress in humans and its relationship to early life
maternal care: a positron emission tomography study using [11C]raclopride. Author Information Reprints and permissions information is available at
J. Neurosci. 24, 2825–2831 (2004). www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.
PET imaging study showing long-term influence of parental care during early life Readers are welcome to comment on the online version of this article at
on dopamine release in the ventral striatum under psychosocial stress in www.nature.com/nature. Correspondence should be addressed to J.v.O.
adulthood. (j.vanos@sp.unimaas.nl).
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