Covert orienting to exogenous and endogenous cues in children with spina bifida

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatric Neurology

Background:

• Spina bifida meningomyelocele and hydrocephalus (SBM) is associated with congenital brain dysmorphies.
• Midbrain and posterior cortical regions are crucial for covert orienting.
• Children with SBM often display cognitive and attentional challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cued covert orienting abilities in children with SBM.
• To identify associations between orienting deficits and specific neuroanatomical abnormalities in SBM.
• To compare orienting performance in children with SBM to typically developing controls.

Main Methods:

• A cued covert orienting task was administered to 92 children with SBM and 40 typically developing controls.
• Three cue types were used: exogenous (luminance change), endogenous arrow, and endogenous word.
• Behavioral performance metrics (reaction time, cue-validity effect) were analyzed.
• Neuroimaging data (midbrain and posterior cortex morphology) were correlated with orienting performance.

Main Results:

• Children with SBM demonstrated significantly slower covert orienting responses to both exogenous and endogenous cues compared to controls.
• A greater attentional disengagement cost (cue-validity effect) was observed for exogenous cues in the SBM group.
• Covert orienting deficits were linked to midbrain dysmorphology (tectum beaking) and reduced right posterior brain volume.

Conclusions:

• Children with SBM exhibit significant deficits in cued covert orienting, impacting both orienting and attentional disengagement.
• These orienting impairments are associated with specific structural brain abnormalities, particularly in the midbrain and posterior cortex.
• Findings highlight the neural underpinnings of attention deficits in SBM and suggest potential targets for intervention.