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

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.

Prenatal alcohol and tetrahydrocannabinol exposure: Effects on spatial and working memory

“…Previous preclinical studies have also reported that prenatal alcohol exposure impairs spatial working memory ( Schambra et al, 2017 ; Lucia et al, 2019 ; Waddell et al, 2020 ; Gursky et al, 2021 ), even at low to moderate ethanol doses ( Schambra et al, 2017 ; Waddell et al, 2020 ) and across different gestational periods ( Schambra et al, 2017 ; Lucia et al, 2019 ; Waddell et al, 2020 ; Gursky et al, 2021 ). Similar working memory deficits have been reported in clinical populations ( Kodituwakku et al, 1995 ; Moore et al, 2021 ; Chetty-Mhlanga et al, 2022 ). This deficit is likely related to dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex ( Waddell et al, 2020 ; Gursky et al, 2021 ), and our data suggest that the alcohol levels achieved in the current study may disrupt development of this brain area.…”

“…For example, cognitive dysfunction associated with prenatal alcohol exposure can contribute to life-long challenges in school and independent living ( McLachlan et al, 2020 ), negatively affecting an individual’s quality of life ( Mattson et al, 2019 ). Specifically, clinical studies have shown that prenatal alcohol exposure disrupts learning and memory on a variety of tasks, including spatial memory ( Dodge et al, 2019 ) and spatial working memory ( Moore et al, 2021 ). Prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to difficulties in efficiently encoding information ( Lewis et al, 2021 ), which is associated with slower information processing and/or utilization of inefficient and ineffective memory strategies ( Lewis et al, 2021 ).…”

Neurodevelopmental Trajectories Following Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

“…These atypical brain trajectories suggest that behavioral and cognitive deficits may differ across age as well. Indeed, a recent cross-sectional analysis of the relation between cognition and age in children with PAE indicated that children with PAE may have slower gains in spatial working memory over time as compared to controls, resulting in a bigger gap in abilities by adolescence (Moore et al, 2021 ). However, other cross-sectional studies have failed to find differences in cognitive deficits between young and older children with PAE (Panczakiewicz et al, 2016 ).…”

Effects of genetics and sex on adolescent behaviors following neonatal ethanol exposure in BXD recombinant inbred strains

“…The hippocampus is of particular interest as it plays a large role in many of the cognitive and behavioral abnormalities present in FASD, specifically impairments in learning, memory, and attention. In humans, hippocampal abnormalities and dysfunctions have been associated with impaired spatial working memory performance ( Coles et al, 1991 ; Hamilton et al, 2003 ; Willoughby et al, 2008 ; Moore et al, 2021 ). Impaired hippocampal-dependent behaviors are also seen in animal models using several different behavioral paradigms [as reviewed in ( Patten et al, 2014 ; Marquardt and Brigman, 2016 )] that assessed multiple hippocampal-dependent behaviors such as spatial learning and memory ( Kelly et al, 1988 ; Wozniak et al, 2004 ) and fear conditioning ( Wagner and Hunt, 2006 ; Hunt et al, 2009 ; Brady et al, 2012 ; Hamilton et al, 2014 ).…”