WCST performance and schizotypal features in the first-degree relatives ofpatients with schizophrenia

Since the findings concerning the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) perfor mance of healthy first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia are equivocal, it still remains unclear whether the WCST may serve as a neurops ychological indicator of vulnerability to schizophrenia. The aim of this st udy was to evaluate whether the first-degree relatives' schizotypal feature s could account for these discrepancies. The subjects were 24 schizophrenic probands, 49 of their first-degree relatives and 41 normal controls. The c omputerized version of the WCST was used and schizotypy features were asses sed using four of Chapman's scales. The patient group performed worse on th e WCST and had higher scores of schizotypy than the control group. The rela tives group did not significantly differ from the control, neither on the W CST performance nor on the scores of schizotypy. However, the subgroup of r elatives and the subgroup of patients with high scores on the negative dime nsion of schizotypy showed a worse performance on the WCST than the subgrou ps with low scores. There were no differences on the WCST performance betwe en the subgroups with high vs. low scores on the positive dimension of schi zotypy. Thus, discrepancies across studies could be explained by a confound ing factor represented by the negative dimension of schizotypy. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.