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Processing speed and executive abilities in children with phenylketonuria

Alicia L Janos1, Dorothy K Grange, Robert D Steiner

  • 1Department of Psychology, Campus Box 1125, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

Neuropsychology
|August 8, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Children with phenylketonuria (PKU) exhibit slower and more variable information processing. While processing speed improves with age, PKU impacts executive functions like working memory and inhibitory control.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Metabolic Disorders

Background:

  • Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inherited metabolic disorder.
  • Early and continuous treatment is crucial but may not fully prevent neuropsychological deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate processing speed and its variability in children with PKU.
  • To examine the relationship between processing speed variables and executive functions in this population.

Main Methods:

  • 42 children with PKU and 81 controls (ages 7-18) completed computerized reaction time tasks.
  • Executive abilities were assessed using 7 tasks measuring working memory, inhibitory control, and strategic processing.

Main Results:

  • Children with PKU demonstrated significantly slower and more variable processing speeds than controls.
  • Processing speed improved with age similarly in both groups, but processing speed variability decreased more with age in the PKU group.
  • Processing speed and variability influenced most executive tasks, with residual impairments in working memory and inhibitory control noted in the PKU group.

Conclusions:

  • Information processing is demonstrably slower and less efficient in children with PKU.
  • Processing speed and variability partially explain, but do not fully account for, executive function impairments in PKU.
Abstract

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