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Developmental Trajectories for Visuo-Spatial Attention are Altered by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A Longitudinal FMRI
P Gautam1, S C Nuñez1, K L Narr2
1Developmental Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine at USC/Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|August 6, 2014
Summary
This study tracked brain activity in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and controls over two years. FASD participants showed decreased brain activation, unlike controls, suggesting long-term effects on attention development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Cross-sectional studies show brain activation differences in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) during visuo-spatial tasks.
- Longitudinal changes in brain activation during development in children with FASD are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate longitudinal changes in brain activation during visuo-spatial attention and working memory in children with FASD compared to typically developing controls.
- To explore the developmental trajectory of neural activation patterns in FASD.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan 31 individuals with FASD and 30 controls over two years (ages 7-14).
- A total of 122 scans were analyzed to compare group differences in brain activation over time.
- Findings were corroborated by two independent US-based samples.
Main Results:
- Despite similar task performance, significant group differences in visuo-spatial activation were observed bilaterally in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions.
- Typically developing children showed increased brain activation over time, while children with FASD exhibited decreased activation.
- These patterns were consistent across multiple brain regions and samples.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal alcohol exposure appears to have long-lasting effects on the maturation of visuo-spatial attention and working memory systems.
- The observed differences in brain activation trajectories may represent a neural mechanism underlying attention deficits in individuals with FASD.
- This longitudinal fMRI study provides novel insights into the developmental neurobiology of FASD.
