No abstract

Our findings suggest that decreased working memory performance in bipolar patients reflects specific neurofunctional deficits. These deficits may represent primary areas of neuropathology or be secondary to neuropathology elsewhere in the working memory network. Continued research utilizing other imaging modalities may further clarify the underlying neuropathology involved in these cognitive deficits.

The potential benefits of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the investigation of normal development have been limited by difficulties in its use with children. We describe the practical aspects, including failure rates, involved in conducting large-scale functional MRI studies with normal children. Two hundred and nine healthy children between the ages of 5 and 18 years participated in a functional MRI study of language development. Reliable activation maps were obtained across the age range. Younger children had significantly higher failure rates than older children and adolescents. It is concluded that it is feasible to conduct large-scale functional MRI studies of children as young as 5 years old. These findings can be used by other research groups to guide study design and plans for recruitment of young subjects.