mental imagery in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia

Background: implicit mental rotation has been studied in patients with schizophrenia; however, no research has examined it in relatives of the patients. objectives: this study compared the performances of schizophrenia patients with their unaffected relatives to shed further light on the nature of cognitive functioning in schizophrenia relatives. methods: we examined mental rotation in 25 schizophrenia patients, 25 of their first-degree relatives and 25 controls, using the hand rotation task. in this task, the participants had to determine the laterality of hands showed in various orientations. results: the results of this study revealed that the mean error rate of the relatives was significantly different between patients and healthy controls (all p < 0.03), ii), the mean response times of both patients and relatives were significantly slower than controls (all p < 0.004). conclusions: these findings suggest that mental rotation may be a trait marker for schizophrenia.