ABSTRACT
There is a growing consensus that some form of an early information input dysfunction constitutes a central deficit in schizophrenia. A substantial body of evidence (cf. Nuechterlein & Dawson, 1984b, for a review) indicates that an input dysfunction might predate the onset of the disorder and be a consistent trait of schizophrenics in both their acute and remitted stages. For example, input dysfunctions have been found in nonpsychotic schizotypic individuals (Balogh & Merritt, 1985; Braff, 1981; Steronko & Woods, 1978), and in a significant subset of children at increased risk for adult schizophrenia (Asarnow, Steffy, MacCrimmon, & Cleghorn, 1978; Nuechterlein, 1983; but see also Harvey, Weintraub, & Neale, 1985). In addition, input dysfunctions have been identified in the first degree relatives of schizophrenics (DeAmicis & Cromwell, 1979; Spring, Levitt, Briggs, & Benet, 1983), further supporting the potential of such deficits as genetic vulnerability markers for the disorder. Finally, input dysfunctions also seem to have prognostic utility (Cancro, Sutton, Kerr, & Sugarman, 1971; Elliott & Knight, 1982; Knight, Elliott, Roff, & Watson, 1986), and may serve as important predictors of the course of the disorder.
