Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) is theoretically
part of the schizophrenia spectrum both clinically and
neurobiologically. A liability for developing schizophrenia
may be associated with dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex (DLPFC) and its cortical and/or subcortical circuitry.
If so, abnormalities on tasks associated with DLPFC functioning
among SPD subjects would support the thesis that SPD is
neurobiologically related to schizophrenia. Antisaccade
and ocular motor delayed response performance, both of
which are ostensibly supported by DLPFC circuitry, were
assessed among 29 SPD, 17 schizophrenia, and 25 normal
subjects. Generally, the SPD subjects' performance
was more similar to normal than to schizophrenia groups.
There was evidence, however, for inhibition abnormalities
in a subgroup of SPD subjects. Antisaccade performance
identified more SPD subjects as “abnormal”
than delayed response measures.