An ERP study of recognition memory for concrete and abstract pictures in school-aged children.

Recognition memory for concrete, nameable pictures is typically faster and more accurate than for abstract pictures. A dual-coding account for these findings suggests that concrete pictures are processed into verbal and image codes, whereas abstract pictures are encoded in image codes only. Recognition memory relies on two successive and distinct processes, namely familiarity and recollection.

Prenatal tobacco exposure and response inhibition in school-aged children: an event-related potential study.

Prenatal cigarette smoke exposure (PCSE) has been linked to problems in behavioral inhibition and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children in several epidemiological studies. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the effects of PCSE on neural correlates of inhibitory control of behavior. In a prospective longitudinal study on child development in the Canadian Arctic, we assessed 186 Inuit children (mean age=11.

Response inhibition and error monitoring during a visual go/no-go task in inuit children exposed to lead, polychlorinated biphenyls, and methylmercury.

Background: Lead (Pb) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are neurotoxic contaminants that have been related to impairment in response inhibition.

Objectives: In this study we examined the neurophysiological correlates of the response inhibition deficits associated with these exposures, using event-related potentials (ERPs) in a sample of school-age Inuit children from Arctic Québec exposed through their traditional diet.

Methods: In a prospective longitudinal study, we assessed 196 children (mean age, 11.

Neurophysiologic and neurobehavioral evidence of beneficial effects of prenatal omega-3 fatty acid intake on memory function at school age.

Background: The beneficial effects of prenatal and early postnatal intakes of omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on cognitive development during infancy are well recognized. However, few studies have examined the extent to which these benefits continue to be evident in childhood.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relation of n-3 PUFAs and seafood-contaminant intake with memory function in school-age children from a fish-eating community.

Number processing in adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure and ADHD: differences in the neurobehavioral phenotype.

Background: Poor arithmetic performance is among the most sensitive outcomes associated with prenatal alcohol exposure and is also common in individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We hypothesized that prenatal alcohol exposure would be associated with deficits in the most fundamental aspects of number processing, representation of quantity and distance, whereas ADHD would be associated with deficits in calculation, the form of number processing most dependent on attention and memory.

Methods: Two hundred and sixty-two inner-city, African American adolescents, who had been evaluated prospectively for prenatal alcohol exposure and ADHD, were assessed on a number-processing test comprised of 7 subtests.

The effects of maternal binge drinking during pregnancy on neural correlates of response inhibition and memory in childhood.

Background: Although an extensive literature has documented a broad range of cognitive performance deficits in children with prenatal alcohol exposure, little is known about how the neurophysiological processes underlying these deficits may be affected. Event-related potentials (ERPs), which reflect task-specific changes in brain electrical activity, provide a method for examining multiple constituents of cognitive processing at the neural level.

Methods: We recorded ERPs in 217 children from Inuit communities in Arctic Quebec (M age = 11.

Iron deficiency anemia and cognitive function in infancy.

Objectives: This study examined effects of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) on specific domains of infant cognitive function and the role of IDA-related socioemotional deficits in mediating and/or moderating these effects.

Methods: Infants were recruited during routine 9-month visits to an inner-city clinic. IDA was defined as hemoglobin level <110 g/L with > or =2 abnormal iron deficiency indicators (mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, zinc protoporphyrin, transferrin saturation, and ferritin).

Iron deficiency in infancy and neurocognitive functioning at 19 years: evidence of long-term deficits in executive function and recognition memory.

Iron deficiency in infancy negatively impacts a variety of neurodevelopmental processes at the time of nutrient insufficiency, with persistent central nervous system alterations and deficits in behavioral functioning, despite iron therapy. In rodent models, early iron deficiency impairs the hippocampus and the dopamine system. We examined the possibility that young adults who had experienced chronic, severe, iron deficiency as infants would exhibit deficits on neurocognitive tests with documented frontostriatal (Trail Making Test, Intra-/Extra-dimensional Shift, Stockings of Cambridge, Spatial Working Memory, Rapid Visual Information Processing) and hippocampal specificity (Pattern Recognition Memory, Spatial Recognition Memory).

An event-related potential study of response inhibition in ADHD with and without prenatal alcohol exposure.

Background: The attention and cognitive problems seen in individuals with a history of prenatal alcohol exposure often resemble those associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but few studies have directly assessed the unique influence of each on neurobehavioral outcomes.

Methods: We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No-go response inhibition task in young adults with prospectively obtained histories of prenatal alcohol exposure and childhood ADHD.

Results: Regardless of prenatal alcohol exposure, participants with childhood ADHD were less accurate at inhibiting responses.

The effects of fetal alcohol syndrome on response execution and inhibition: an event-related potential study.

Background: Both executive function deficits and slower processing speed are characteristic of children with fetal alcohol exposure, but the temporal dynamics of neural activity underlying cognitive processing deficits in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder have rarely been studied. To this end, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to examine the nature of alcohol-related effects on response inhibition by identifying differences in neural activation during task performance.

Methods: We recorded ERPs during a Go/No-go response inhibition task in 2 groups of children in Cape Town, South Africa (M age = 11.

Impaired eyeblink conditioning in children with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Background: Eyeblink conditioning (EBC) is a Pavlovian paradigm that involves contingent temporal pairing of a conditioned stimulus (e.g., tone) with an unconditioned stimulus (e.

An event-related potential study of attention and recognition memory in infants with iron-deficiency anemia.

Objectives: The purpose of this work was to determine whether iron-deficiency anemia in infancy represents a risk factor for deficits in attention and memory development using event-related potentials.

Methods: Artifact-free event-related potential data were obtained at 9 and/or 12 months from 15 infants with iron-deficiency anemia and 19 who were iron sufficient during a test of the infant's ability to discriminate a highly familiar stimulus, the mother's face, from a stranger's face.

Results: A midlatency negative component associated with attention and a late-occurring positive slow wave associated with memory updating were identified at both ages in the iron-deficiency anemia and iron-sufficient groups.

Preschool-aged children with iron deficiency anemia show altered affect and behavior.

This study compared social looking and response to novelty in preschool-aged children (47-68 mo) with or without iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Iron status of the participants from a low-income community in New Delhi, India, was based on venous hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, and red cell distribution width. Children's social looking toward adults, affect, and wary or hesitant behavior in response to novelty were assessed in a semistructured paradigm during an in-home play observation.

Implicit memory development in school-aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): conceptual priming deficit?

Previous research has shown that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often demonstrate performance deficits on effortful, strategic memory tasks, whereas relatively rote tasks of memory reveal no such deficit. Thus far, research in this domain has focused primarily on explicit memory. This study examined performance on multiple measures of implicit and explicit memory in children aged 7 to 14 years with and without ADHD.

Rapid drop in infant blood lead levels during the transition to unleaded gasoline use in Santiago, Chile.

This study was conducted to relate blood lead levels in infants to changes in lead emissions in Santiago, Chile, a heavily polluted setting where leaded gasoline began to be replaced with unleaded gasoline in 1993. Over an 18-mo period, 422 infants had blood lead levels, cotinine, and iron status determined at 12 mo. Blood lead levels fell at an average rate of 0.

Relation of prenatal alcohol exposure to cognitive processing speed and efficiency in childhood.

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure has been linked to deficits in processing speed in both infancy and later in childhood. This study was designed to examine prenatal alcohol-related deficits in both processing speed and processing efficiency in four domains of cognitive function.

Methods: Black children (n=337; age, 7.

Effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on attention and working memory at 7.5 years of age.

Background: A broad range of attentional and neuropsychological impairments have been demonstrated in children with fetal alcohol exposure. This study was designed to investigate which specific aspects of attentional function are most directly affected by moderate to heavy doses of prenatal alcohol exposure.

Methods: A total of 337 black children who were aged 7.