Figure 5.

Summary showing human cortical development, environmental factors that increase the risk for later development of schizophrenia and clinical progression of the disease. Major processes in prenatal cortical development (in months) and postnatal cortical development (in years) are indicated by horizontal lines. Dots on the lines indicate the extent of those processes as they occur in the cortex proper, as detailed in text between arrows. Shaded boxes indicate the first trimester of gestation and adolescence. Above the shaded boxes, environmental factors (in italics) that may have an impact on neural development and increase the risk of developing schizophrenia are shown (vertical arrows). The clinical course of schizophrenia from an asymptomatic state in childhood to full expression of the disease in late adolescence/early adulthood is shown in blue.