Research on schizophrenia in the NIMH Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology, 1954-1987.

Since its creation in 1954 (as the Laboratory of Psychology) through the present time, the Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology has devoted a major effort to the study of schizophrenia. Shakow's studies on impaired reaction time performance led to the development of the concept of segmental set; Rosenthal's work on genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia, as well as on the interaction of stress and diathesis, helped to illuminate the nature of transmission of schizophrenia. These investigations set standards of excellence for careful analysis of psychopathological behavior. Our present program of research on schizophrenia emphasizes autonomic, psychophysiological and event-related brain potential investigations of schizophrenic patients and long-term followup of a high-risk population in Israel. In this group, poor attention in children at genetic risk has proved to be a predictor of later development of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Our work also emphasizes a theoretical analysis of the neuropsychological elements that make up attention in relation to psychopathological states.