Neurotoxic effects of home radon exposure on oscillatory dynamics serving attentional orienting in children and adolescents.

Radon is a naturally occurring gas that contributes significantly to radiation in the environment and is the second leading cause of lung cancer globally. Previous studies have shown that other environmental toxins have deleterious effects on brain development, though radon has not been studied as thoroughly in this context. This study examined the impact of home radon exposure on the neural oscillatory activity serving attention reorientation in youths.

Developmental alterations in the neural oscillatory dynamics underlying attentional reorienting.

The neural and cognitive processes underlying the flexible allocation of attention undergo a protracted developmental course with changes occurring throughout adolescence. Despite documented age-related improvements in attentional reorienting throughout childhood and adolescence, the neural correlates underlying such changes in reorienting remain unclear. Herein, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine neural dynamics during a Posner attention-reorienting task in 80 healthy youth (6-14 years old).