Inefficiently increased anterior cingulate modulation of cortical systems during working memory in young offspring of schizophrenia patients

Increased modulatory inputs from a central control region like the anterior cingulate presumably reflect relative inefficiency in intra-cortical interactions in the vulnerable brain. This inefficiency may reflect a developmentally mediated impairment in functional brain interactions in this important vulnerable population. It is highly plausible that the resultant effect of these altered interactions is an increased vulnerability to impaired brain development, and therefore to psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.