Children with Poor Information-Processing Abilities at Risk for Psychotic Experiences Later

Children whose brain process information is slower than their peers are at an increased risk of having psychotic experiences such as hearing voices and seeing things that are not present, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by researchers from Cardiff and Bristol universities and included more than 6,700 children.

Psychotic experiences can be dangerous not just for the person, but also for people around him or her.

The study was based on data from 6,784 participants in the Children of the 90s study at Bristol university. Researchers looked at the association between cognitive abilities at ages 8, 10 and 11, and risk of psychotic experiences at age 12. Cognitive abilities of the children were assessed using a series of tests. One of the tests focussed on how well their brains processed information.

Study results showed that children who processed information slowly had more likelihoods of having a psychotic experience by age 12. Also, this association remained even after the researchers accounted for other factors that might have had an impact over the results, such as parents' mental health and their own developmental delays.

"Previous research has shown a link between the slowing down of information processing and schizophrenia and this was found to be at least in part the result of anti-psychotic medication," said Maria Niarchou from Cardiff University's School of Medicine, lead author of the study. "However, this study shows that impaired information processing speed can already be present in childhood and associated with higher risk of psychotic experiences, irrespective of medication."

The study paper is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The study results don't imply that all children who have poor information processing ability at a young age will go on to have a psychotic experience. However, the study opens a new way to look at psychotic illness and can help in the early diagnosis of people affected by it. Researchers said that more research is needed to understand this relationship.

"Further research is needed to determine whether interventions to improve processing speed in at-risk children can lead to decreased transition to psychotic disorders," said Dr. Marianne van den Bree of Cardiff University's School of Medicine and senior author of the study in a news release.