title: Attentional network task in schizophrenic patients and theirs unaffected first degree relatives: a potential endofenotype.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, reports of attentional deficits in schizophrenic patients and in their biological relatives have rapidly increased, including an important effort to search for the endophenotypes in order to link specific genes to this illness. Posner et al. developed a test, the Attention Network Test (ANT), to study the neural networks. This test provides a separate measure for each one of the three anatomically-defined attention networks (alerting, orienting and executive control).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this paper, we investigate the attentional performance in 32 schizophrenic patients, 29 unaffected first degree relatives and 29 healthy controls using the ANT through a study of family association. We have studied the efficiency of the segregated executive control, alerting and orienting networks by measuring how response latencies (reaction time) were modified by the cue position and the flanking stimuli. We also studied the familial association of these attentional alterations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ANOVA revealed main effects of flanker and cue condition and a significant interaction effect between flanker and groups studied. The schizophrenic patients and their relatives had a longer median reaction time than the control group. The probands and their relatives significantly differed from the healthy controls in terms of their conflict resolution; however, the alerting network appeared to be conserved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support the thesis of a specific attentional deficit in schizophrenia and show the segregation of the three attentional networks. The family association of these reported alterations supports the idea of a potential endophenotype in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychiatry, Cuban Neuroscience Center, Havana, Cuba. seidel@moron.cav.sld.cu
authors.forename: S Guerra
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: J Iglesias
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Fuster
authors.forename: M Martín
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: T M Bravo
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Collazo
authors.forename: R Mendoza
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Quiñones
authors.forename: A Reyes
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Berazain
authors.forename: M A Pedroso
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Días de Villarvilla
authors.forename: M Antonieta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bobés
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valdés-Sosa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D058068:Endophenotypes; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology