Span of Apprehension Deficits in Children Vulnerable to Psychopathology. A Failure to Replicate

A previous study has shown that children vulnerable to psychopathology show performance deficits on the span of apprehension task. In that study, however, the sample size was very small and children of schizophrenics were not compared to children of other types of psychopathological parents. Data from the Stony Brook High-Risk Project indicated that children of schizophrenics (n = 34) did not differ from children of unipolars (n = 54), children of bipolars (n = 52), or children of normal subjects (n = 75) in their span performance. Possible sources of the discrepant results are discussed.