Altered frontal-parietal functioning during verbal working memory in children and adolescents with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.
Title | Altered frontal-parietal functioning during verbal working memory in children and adolescents with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2009 |
Authors | O'Hare ED, Lu LH, Houston SM, Bookheimer SY, Mattson SN, O'Connor MJ, Sowell ER |
Journal | Hum Brain Mapp |
Volume | 30 |
Issue | 10 |
Pagination | 3200-8 |
Date Published | 2009 Oct |
ISSN | 1097-0193 |
Keywords | Adolescent, Alcohol Drinking, Analysis of Variance, Brain Mapping, Child, Echo-Planar Imaging, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Parietal Lobe, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Reaction Time, Verbal Learning |
Abstract | This study evaluated the neural basis of verbal working memory (WM) function in a group of 20 children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) and 20 typically developing comparison participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both groups showed prominent activation in the frontal-parietal-cerebellar network known to be important for verbal WM. Despite equivalent behavioral performance between groups, alcohol-exposed individuals showed increased activation relative to typically developing individuals in left dorsal frontal and left inferior parietal cortices, and bilateral posterior temporal regions during verbal WM. These effects remained even when group differences on IQ were statistically controlled. This pattern of increased activation coupled with equivalent behavioral performance between groups suggests that individuals with FASD recruit a more extensive network of brain regions during verbal WM relative to typically developing individuals. These findings may suggest that frontal-parietal processing during verbal WM is less efficient in alcohol-exposed individuals. |
DOI | 10.1002/hbm.20741 |
Alternate Journal | Hum Brain Mapp |
PubMed ID | 19263420 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC2748151 |
Grant List | F31 AA016039-02 / AA / NIAAA NIH HHS / United States F31AA16039 / AA / NIAAA NIH HHS / United States R01 DA017831 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States R21 DA15878 / DA / NIDA NIH HHS / United States U01 AA014834 / AA / NIAAA NIH HHS / United States U24AA014808 / AA / NIAAA NIH HHS / United States U54 RR021813 / RR / NCRR NIH HHS / United States |