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Schneider D, Bouhali F, Richter CG, Costache R, Costache C, Kirchhoffer K, Sheth V, MacDonald I, Hoeft F. Perinatal influences on academic achievement and the developing brain: a scoping systematic review. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1352241. [PMID: 38962224 PMCID: PMC11221367 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1352241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction and methods In this PRISMA-compliant systematic review, we identify and synthesize the findings of research in which neuroimaging and assessments of achievement have been used to examine the relationships among aspects of developmental programming, neurodevelopment, and achievement in reading and mathematics. Results Forty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. The majority examined the impact of prematurity (n = 32) and prenatal alcohol exposure (n = 13). Several prematurity studies reported a positive correlation between white-matter integrity of callosal fibers and executive functioning and/or achievement, and white matter properties were consistently associated with cognitive and academic performance in preterm and full-term children. Volumetric studies reported positive associations between academic and cognitive abilities and white and gray matter volume in regions such as the insula, putamen, and prefrontal lobes. Functional MRI studies demonstrated increased right-hemispheric language processing among preterm children. Altered activation of the frontoparietal network related to numerical abilities was also reported. Prenatal alcohol exposure studies reported alterations in white matter microstructure linked to deficits in cognitive functioning and academic achievement, including mathematics, reading, and vocabulary skills. Volumetric studies reported reductions in cerebral, cerebellar, and subcortical gray matter volumes associated with decreased scores on measures of executive functioning, attention, working memory, and academic performance. Functional MRI studies demonstrated broad, diffuse activation, reduced activation in canonical regions, and increased activation in non-canonical regions during numeric tasks. Discussion A preponderance of studies linked prematurity and prenatal alcohol exposure to altered neurodevelopmental processes and suboptimal academic achievement. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed. Systematic review registration Identifier: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/ZAN67.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deborah Schneider
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Webster University, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Caroline G. Richter
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Radu Costache
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Catalina Costache
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Kaitlyn Kirchhoffer
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Vatsa Sheth
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Ibo MacDonald
- Institute of Higher Education and Research in Healthcare, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Fumiko Hoeft
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
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Shmueli M, Ben-Shachar MS, Jacobson JL, Meintjes EM, Molteno CD, Jacobson SW, Berger A. Magnitude comparison and automaticity in number processing in adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure: An event-related potentials study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2022; 46:961-978. [PMID: 35373355 DOI: 10.1111/acer.14823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders may exhibit a distinct pattern of dysmorphic facial features, growth restriction, and cognitive deficits, particularly in arithmetic. Magnitude comparison, a fundamental element of numerical cognition, is modulated by the numerical distance effect, with numbers closer in value more difficult to compare than those further apart, and by the automaticity of the association of numerical values with their symbolic representations (Arabic numerals). METHODS We examined event-related potentials acquired during the Numerical Stroop numerical and physical tasks administered to 24 alcohol-exposed adolescents (eight fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), eight partial FAS (PFAS), eight heavily exposed (HE) nonsyndromal) and 23 typically developing (TD), same- age controls. The distance effect was assessed on the numerical task to examine differences in reaction time (RT) and accuracy when two numbers are close in value (e.g., 1 vs. 2) compared to when the numbers are less close (e.g., 1 vs. 6). Automaticity was assessed in the physical task by examining the degree to which RT and accuracy are reduced when the relative physical size of two numerals is incongruent with their numerical values (e.g., 1 vs. 6). RESULTS Adolescents in all four groups performed behaviorally as expected on these relatively simple magnitude comparison tasks, but accuracy was poorer and RT was slower on both tasks in the FAS and PFAS than the HE and TD groups. At the neurophysiological level, in the numerical task, a higher level of prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with smaller P2p amplitude. In the physical task, only the TD and nonsyndromal HE groups exhibited the expected smaller P300 amplitude in the incongruent than the congruent condition. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that magnitude comparison in alcohol-exposed individuals may be mediated by recruitment of alternative neural pathways that are likely to be inefficient when number processing becomes more challenging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Shmueli
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Mattan S Ben-Shachar
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Joseph L Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA.,Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ernesta M Meintjes
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Christopher D Molteno
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Sandra W Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA.,Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Andrea Berger
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
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Yu X, Dunstan J, Jacobson SW, Molteno CD, Lindinger NM, Turesky TK, Meintjes EM, Jacobson JL, Gaab N. Distinctive neural correlates of phonological and reading impairment in fetal alcohol-exposed adolescents with and without facial dysmorphology. Neuropsychologia 2022; 169:108188. [PMID: 35218791 PMCID: PMC9922095 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to atypical brain and cognitive development, including poor academic performance in reading. This study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging to characterize functional and structural mechanisms mediating reading deficits in 26 adolescents with PAE-related facial dysmorphology (fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)/partial FAS (PFAS)), 29 heavily-exposed (HE) non-syndromal adolescents, in comparison with 19 typically developing controls. The FAS/PFAS and HE groups were balanced in terms of levels of PAE and reading (dis)ability. While neural alterations in the posterior association cortices were evident in both PAE groups, distinctive neural correlates of reading (dis)abilities were observed between adolescents with and without facial dysmorphology. Specifically, compared to the HE and control groups, the syndromal adolescents showed greater activation in the right precentral gyrus during phonological processing and rightward lateralization in an important reading-related tract (inferior longitudinal fasciculus, ILF), suggesting an atypical reliance on the right hemisphere. By contrast, in the HE, better reading skills were positively correlated with neural activation in the left angular gyrus and white matter organization of the left ILF, although the brain function-behavior relation was weaker than among the controls, suggesting less efficient function of the typical reading network. Our findings provide converging evidence at both the neural functional and structural levels for distinctive brain mechanisms underlying atypical reading and phonological processing in PAE adolescents with and without facial dysmorphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, MA, 02115, USA.
| | - Jade Dunstan
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sandra W Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa; Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa
| | - Christopher D Molteno
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa
| | - Nadine M Lindinger
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa
| | - Ted K Turesky
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Ernesta M Meintjes
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa
| | - Joseph L Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA; Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa.
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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Lindinger NM, Jacobson SW, Davidson L, Conradie S, Dodge NC, Molteno CD, Meintjes EM, Gaab N, Jacobson JL. Reading impairment in adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF READING : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF READING 2022; 26:469-488. [PMID: 36388467 PMCID: PMC9642985 DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2022.2054717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To date, research on effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has focused on a broad range of cognitive impairments, but relatively few studies have examined effects of PAE on development of reading skills. Although PAE has been linked to poorer reading comprehension, it remains unclear whether this impairment is attributable to deficits in phonological processing, word reading, oral language skills, and/or executive functioning. METHODS A comprehensive reading battery was administered to 10 adolescents with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); 16 with partial FAS; 30 nonsyndromal heavily-exposed; 49 controls. RESULTS PAE was related to poorer reading comprehension but not to single word reading or phonological processing, suggesting that the mechanics of reading are intact in adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders at this age. PAE-related impairment in reading comprehension was mediated, in part, by deficits in mastery of oral language skills, including vocabulary, language structure, and verbal fluency. CONCLUSIONS These results are consistent with research showing that reading comprehension in adolescence relies increasingly on linguistic comprehension abilities, especially once word reading becomes automatic and text complexity increases. Our findings suggest that reading-impaired adolescents with PAE will benefit from intervention programs targeting vocabulary knowledge, language structure, verbal fluency, and reading comprehension skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine M. Lindinger
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Sandra W. Jacobson
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Landi Davidson
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Simone Conradie
- Department of General Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
| | - Neil C. Dodge
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Christopher D. Molteno
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ernesta M. Meintjes
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Joseph L. Jacobson
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
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