Altered Accuracy of Saccadic Eye Movements in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Paolozza, Angelina; Titman, Rebecca; Brien, Donald C.; Munoz, Douglas P.; Reynolds, James N.

doi:10.1111/acer.12119

Cited by 31 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…An increase in the frequency of timing errors has consistently been observed in children with FASD compared with controls (Paolozza et al, 2013, 2014a). In contrast, we did not observe a difference in sequence errors in a smaller sample (n = 27) of children with FASD (Paolozza et al, 2013), however with a larger sample size that enabled standardization for age the more subtle difference in sequence errors has become evident (data of the current study and see also Paolozza et al, 2014b). It is important to fully characterize eye movement performance in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, as this may help to establish whether there are (i) unique profiles of deficits that occur in specific disorders and (ii) correlations with certain types of structural or functional brain injury.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Response inhibition deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Relationship between diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum and eye movement control

Paolozza

Treit

Beaulieu

et al. 2014

NeuroImage: Clinical

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Response inhibition is the ability to suppress irrelevant impulses to enable goal-directed behavior. The underlying neural mechanisms of inhibition deficits are not clearly understood, but may be related to white matter connectivity, which can be assessed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between response inhibition during the performance of saccadic eye movement tasks and DTI measures of the corpus callosum in children with or without Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Participants included 43 children with an FASD diagnosis (12.3 ± 3.1 years old) and 35 typically developing children (12.5 ± 3.0 years old) both aged 7–18, assessed at three sites across Canada. Response inhibition was measured by direction errors in an antisaccade task and timing errors in a delayed memory-guided saccade task. Manual deterministic tractography was used to delineate six regions of the corpus callosum and calculate fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), parallel diffusivity, and perpendicular diffusivity. Group differences in saccade measures were assessed using t-tests, followed by partial correlations between eye movement inhibition scores and corpus callosum FA and MD, controlling for age. Children with FASD made more saccade direction errors and more timing errors, which indicates a deficit in response inhibition. The only group difference in DTI metrics was significantly higher MD of the splenium in FASD compared to controls. Notably, direction errors in the antisaccade task were correlated negatively to FA and positively to MD of the splenium in the control, but not the FASD group, which suggests that alterations in connectivity between the two hemispheres of the brain may contribute to inhibition deficits in children with FASD.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Response inhibition deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Relationship between diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum and eye movement control

Paolozza

Treit

Beaulieu

et al. 2014

NeuroImage: Clinical

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“…Children with FASD perform poorly on fine motor coordination and reaching tasks (209) and have deficits in postural balance (210). Recently, children diagnosed with FASD were found to have poor saccade accuracy (211), a task dependent on the cerebellum (212). Motor performance can readily be evaluated in animal models using standardized tasks that include the rotarod, runway, directed reaching, and gait analyses.…”

Section: Behavioral Manipulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children with FASD have difficulties inhibiting responses on the Stroop test (225), a task where an individual must inhibit the natural tendency to read words, being required instead to state the color of the font. In addition, these individuals have difficulty in suppressing saccade responses in visual tasks while waiting for the proper initiating signal (211) and exhibit poor working memory when asked to recall digit spans backwards (226). On the Wisconsin card sorting task, where the subject must detect, use, and change card sorting strategies, individuals with FASD make more errors related to shifting sort strategies (227).…”

Section: Behavioral Manipulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of the Different Animal Models of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Their Use in Studying Complex Behaviors

2014

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Prenatal ethanol exposure (PNEE) has been linked to widespread impairments in brain structure and function. There are a number of animal models that are used to study the structural and functional deficits caused by PNEE, including, but not limited to invertebrates, fish, rodents, and non-human primates. Animal models enable a researcher to control important variables such as the route of ethanol administration, as well as the timing, frequency and amount of ethanol exposure. Each animal model and system of exposure has its place, depending on the research question being undertaken. In this review, we will examine the different routes of ethanol administration and the various animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) that are commonly used in research, emphasizing their strengths and limitations. We will also present an up-to-date summary on the effects of prenatal/neonatal ethanol exposure on behavior across the lifespan, focusing on learning and memory, olfaction, social, executive, and motor functions. Special emphasis will be placed where the various animal models best represent deficits observed in the human condition and offer a viable test bed to examine potential therapeutics for human beings with FASD.

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“…Eye movement control is a reliable and accurate measure of prenatal alcohol exposure and can differentiate those with FASD from typically developing controls (Green et al, 2007, 2009; Paolozza et al, 2013, 2014a,b; Tseng et al, 2013a,b). One task that has revealed differences between FASD and control participants is the prosaccade task which requires participants to make visually-guided saccades to peripheral targets (Munoz and Everling, 2004; Johnson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye movements reveal sexually dimorphic deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

et al. 2015

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Background: We examined the accuracy and characteristics of saccadic eye movements in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) compared with typically developing control children. Previous studies have found that children with FASD produce saccades that are quantifiably different from controls. Additionally, animal studies have found sex-based differences for behavioral effects after prenatal alcohol exposure. Therefore, we hypothesized that eye movement measures will show sexually dimorphic results.Methods: Children (aged 5–18 years) with FASD (n = 71) and typically developing controls (n = 113) performed a visually-guided saccade task. Saccade metrics and behavior were analyzed for sex and group differences.Results: Female control participants had greater amplitude saccades than control males or females with FASD. Accuracy was significantly poorer in the FASD group, especially in males, which introduced significantly greater variability in the data. Therefore, we conducted additional analyses including only those trials in which the first saccade successfully reached the target within a ± 1° window. In this restricted amplitude dataset, the females with FASD made saccades with significantly lower velocity and longer duration, whereas the males with FASD did not differ from the control group. Additionally, the mean and peak deceleration were selectively decreased in the females with FASD.Conclusions: These data support the hypothesis that children with FASD exhibit specific deficits in eye movement control and sensory-motor integration associated with cerebellar and/or brain stem circuits. Moreover, prenatal alcohol exposure may have a sexually dimorphic impact on eye movement metrics, with males and females exhibiting differential patterns of deficit.

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Altered Accuracy of Saccadic Eye Movements in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Abstract: These data suggest that children with FASD may have deficits in eye movement control and sensory-motor integration including cerebellar circuits, thereby impairing saccade accuracy.

Cited by 31 publications

References 46 publications

Response inhibition deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Relationship between diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum and eye movement control

Response inhibition deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Relationship between diffusion tensor imaging of the corpus callosum and eye movement control

A Comparison of the Different Animal Models of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Their Use in Studying Complex Behaviors

Eye movements reveal sexually dimorphic deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

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