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Author Notes:

Eileen M. Moore, Ph.D., Center for Behavioral Teratology, 6330 Alvarado Court, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92120, Phone: 619-594-0544, Fax: 619-594-1895, Email: eimoore@sdsu.edu

The authors thank the families who graciously participate in our studies. The authors have no financial or other conflicts of interest. All or part of this work was done in conjunction with the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD), which is funded by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Additional information about CIFASD can be found at www.cifasd.org.

Subject:

Research Funding:

Research described in this paper was supported by NIAAA grant number U01 AA014834.

Additional support was provided by U24 AA014811, U24 AA014815, and K99/R00 AA022661.

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Life Sciences & Biomedicine
  • Substance Abuse
  • FASD
  • Prenatal Alcohol
  • Development
  • Cognition
  • Spatial Working Memory
  • EXECUTIVE FUNCTION DEFICITS
  • SPECTRUM DISORDERS
  • ADAPTIVE-BEHAVIOR
  • ADOLESCENTS
  • CHILDHOOD
  • ATTENTION
  • TRAJECTORIES

Cross-Sectional Analysis of Spatial Working Memory Development in Children with Histories of Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

Tools:

Journal Title:

ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

Volume:

Volume 45, Number 1

Publisher:

, Pages 215-223

Type of Work:

Article | Post-print: After Peer Review

Abstract:

Background: In children with prenatal alcohol exposure, spatial working memory is affected and brain regions important for spatial working memory performance exhibit atypical neurodevelopment. We therefore hypothesized that children with prenatal alcohol exposure may also have atypical development of spatial working memory ability. Methods: We examined the relation between spatial working memory and age using a cross-sectional developmental trajectory approach in youth with and without histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Spatial Working Memory subtest was administered to children 5.0 to 16.9 years old. Results: While the controls and children with prenatal alcohol exposure showed similar performance at younger ages, larger group differences were observed in older children. This effect was replicated in a separate sample. Conclusions: The atypical brain development that has previously been reported in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure may have clinically relevant implications for cognitive development; however, longitudinal cognitive analyses are needed.
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