Neural substrates of a schizotypal spectrum in typically-developing children: Further evidence of a normal-pathological continuum

•28 health children were administered a 3T MRI scan, and parents completed a new measure of the psychosis spectrum/schizotypy (The PSI-C).•Similar neural structures implicated in psychotic disorders were associated with psychosis-spectrum behavior in healthy children.•Caudate, amygdala, hippocampal, and middle temporal gyrus volumes were associated with all subscales of the PSI-C.•Results indicated a sexually-dimorphic pattern of brain-behavior links that are consistent with findings from the schizophrenia literature.

Schizophrenia represents the extreme end of a distribution of traits that extends well into the general population. Using a recently developed measure of psychotic-like traits in children, we examined the neural substrates of psychotic (and other psychiatric) symptoms using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-eight typically-developing children (14 males) between the ages of 6–17 years underwent a 3 T MRI scan. Parents completed the Psychiatric and Schizotypal Inventory for Children. Results revealed that caudate, amygdala, hippocampal and middle temporal gyrus volumes were associated with quantitative dimensions of psychiatric traits. Furthermore, results suggest a differential a sexually-dimorphic pattern of brain-schizotypy associations. These findings highlight brain-behavior continuities between clinical conditions such as schizophrenia and normal trait variation in typical development.