[Vulnerability to schizophrenia: neuropsychological performance and schizotypal personality traits].

Although some neuropsychological deficits and a high rate of schizotypal personality disorders have been found in the first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, few studies have looked for a link between those two types of potential marker of vulnerability to this disease. The aims of this study were: 1) to confirm some executive/attentional deficits in a group of first-degree relatives including not only siblings but also parents; 2) to evaluate the schizotypal traits using the French version of 4 self-reporting scales proposed by Chapman and his colleagues; 3) to look for a dependence or independence between the neuropsychological performance and the scores on the scales of schizotypy. Twenty four patients with schizophrenia, 48 of their first-degree relatives and 31 controls were included in the study.