Schizophrenia is widely considered a neurodevelopmental disorder (Weinberger, 1987; Rapoport et al., 2005). The study of COS provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the specifics of the neurodevelopmental deviations as (1) scans can be obtained during the most dynamic and relevant periods of brain development and (2) childhood-onset counterparts of typical adult-onset illnesses usually show a more severe phenotype less likely to be influenced by environmental factors and more likely to show genetic influences.
