[Neurocognitive endophenotypes in psychiatric genetics].

Psychiatric genetics aims to map genetic factors of psychiatric disorders with complex inheritance. The most commonly used phenotype is the categorical variable of the presence or absence of a disease (case-control model). However, the biological background of various psychiatric disease categories often overlaps. Thus, the use of endophenotypes based on specific biological mechanisms seems to be a more efficient approach in genetic association studies. Results confirm that categorical variables as phenotypes are statistically not so sensitive in identification of a genetic association as well-chosen endophenotypes. Current literature advocates a growing significance of analyzing dimensional neurocognitive endophenotypes in genetic association studies, as well as in developing diagnostic category systems with biological backgrounds.