The neural correlate of anterograde amnesia in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) is still debated. While the capacity to learn new information has been associated with integrity of the medial temporal lobe (MTL), previous studies indicated that the WKS is associated with diencephalic lesions, mainly in the mammillary bodies and anterior or dorsomedial thalamic nuclei. The present study tested the hypothesis that amnesia in WKS is associated with a disrupted neural circuit between diencephalic and hippocampal structures. High-density evoked potentials were recorded in four severely amnesic patients with chronic WKS, in five patients with chronic alcoholism without WKS, and in ten age matched controls. Participants performed a continuous recognition task of pictures previously shown to induce a left medial temporal lobe dependent positive potential between 250 and 350 ms. In addition, the integrity of the fornix was assessed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). WKS, but not alcoholic patients without WKS, showed absence of the early, left MTL dependent positive potential following immediate picture repetitions. DTI indicated disruption of the fornix, which connects diencephalic and hippocampal structures. The findings support an interpretation of anterograde amnesia in WKS as a consequence of a disconnection between diencephalic and MTL structures with deficient contribution of the MTL to rapid consolidation.

Abstract■ Memory influences behavior in multiple ways. One impor-

Background(VPT) children and adolescents exhibit executive, behavioural and socio-emotional difficulties that persists into adulthood. Previous research suggests that mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) may specifically target the development of theses competences. The objective of the current study is to describe the study protocol and to evaluate the feasibility of a clinical trial on a MBI program to enhance executive, behavioural and socio-emotional competences in a cohort of VPT young adolescents.Methods164 VPT young adolescents from 10 to 14 years old, born before 32 gestational weeks, were invited to participate in an MBI program of 8 weekly sessions in groups of up to 8 participants, lasting 1h30. Participant were enrolled in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) or in a pre-post intervention designs depending of their availability. Satisfaction and attendance measures of the MBI were collected using self-reported questionnaires and registration of attendance.ResultsOf the 63 participants who were enrolled in the study (38.2% of families invited to participate), 52 (82.5%) completed all assessments. Once enrolled, acceptability was high as shown by the high attendance rate in the sessions and the feedback evaluation questionnaire.DiscussionTo our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the feasibility of an MBI study in VPT born young adolescents. Our findings suggest that an MBI study is feasible and show a high acceptability among participants. The use of an RCT design in our study constitutes the gold standard for testing the efficacy of such intervention in VPT young adolescents. If effective, the MBI program could potentially be a valuable tool for improving executive, behaviour and socio-emotional competences in the vulnerable VPT population.Trial registrationClinicalTrials, NCT04638101. Registered 19 November 2020 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT04638101.

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