Cortical Thinning in Young Psychosis and Bipolar Patients Correlate with Common Neurocognitive Deficits

Sean Nicholas Hatton¹, Jim Lagopoulos¹, Daniel F. Hermens¹, Elizabeth Nicholas Scott¹, Ian B. Hickie¹, Maxwell R. Bennett¹

We investigated cortical changes in young people with psychosis or bipolar disorder and the relationship between cortical thinning and neurocognitive performance. Although the groups exhibited some differences in regional cortical thinning, the shared regions of cortical thinning were correlated with neurocognitive deficits in visual sustained attention, semantic verbal fluency, and verbal learning and memory that are commonly reported in young people with either psychosis or bipolar disorder. While these disorders may have differing neuropathological origins, it is these shared regions of cortical thinning that most significantly impact the lives of young people with psychosis or bipolar disorder.