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Cliff-edged fitness functions and the persistence of schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2005

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

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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
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , December 2004 , pp. 862 - 863
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004