The concept of target features in schizophrenia research

Target features are clinical or neurobiological characteristics that are ex pressions of the underlying predisposition to an illness. They comprise a w ide range of phenomena, from the classic signs and symptoms of psychopathol ogy to sophisticated measures of brain structure and function. For schizoph renia, many target features have been identified. These include eye trackin g dysfunction, attentional impairment, allusive thinking, neurological sign s, thought disorder, characteristic auditory evoked potentials, neuropsycho logical impairment, structural brain abnormalities and functional brain abn ormalities. In their most pathological forms, these features are present am ong many schizophrenic patients. yet it is their presence among their non-p sychotic relatives that shows them to be target features. We discuss the th eoretical background for target features, present examples and describe how the discovery of target features has implications for schizophrenia resear ch.