Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:41:59.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cliff-edged fitness functions and the persistence of schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2005

Randolph M. Nesse*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48104www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/

Abstract:

Strong recent selection for social cognition may well explain the persistence of genes that predispose to schizophrenia. The specific mechanism responsible may be a skewed fitness function in which selection pushes the mean for advantageous mental traits perilously close to a “fitness cliff” where the system fails catastrophically in some individuals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)