Behavioural phenotypes: what do they teach us?
David H Skuse
Behavioural Sciences
Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N
1EH, UK
Correspondence to: Professor Skuse email: dskuse@ich.ucl.ac.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
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Introduction |
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The study of behavioural phenotypes could be said to go back to the days of the syndrome first described by Down.1 He believed that affected children (whose genetic anomaly was of course not known to him) had distinctive personality characteristics, including "a lively sense of the ridiculous", among others. Subsequent studies have failed to confirm these stereotypes.2 Nevertheless, there have since been numerous attempts to discover, among individuals with known chromosomal or genetic anomalies, mental features that are causally related to the underlying condition. Opinions are divided, between those who regard the study of behavioural phenotypes as being worthwhile3 and those who have their doubts.4 Before discussing the arguments, a definition is required.
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What is a behavioural phenotype? |
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There is no consensus. Flint2 suggested that it is:
"a behaviour, including cognitive processes and social interaction style, that is consistently associated with, and specific to, a
syndrome which has a chromosomal or a genetic aetiology". He
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Child and adolescent psychiatry (paedatrics)
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Autism
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Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
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Pervasive developmental disorder
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