Learning and memory impairments are important contributors to the disability associated with schizophrenia. These functional impairments emerge long before the onset of other symptoms associated with schizophrenia, suggesting that they are a consequence of a disturbance in brain development. In order to investigate the impact of early life disturbances in brain development upon learning and memory, researchers exposed fetal monkeys to x-rays and then examined their behavior when they were adults, approximately 5 years later.