Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Abstract

This study investigated early neonatal visual preferences in 267 poly drug exposed neonates (131 cocaine-exposed and 136 non-cocaine exposed) whose drug exposure was documented through interviews and urine and meconium drug screens. Infants were given four visual recognition memory tasks comparing looking time to familiarized stimuli of lattices and rectangular shapes to novel stimuli of a schematic face and curved hourglass and bull's eye forms. Cocaine-exposed infants performed more poorly, after consideration of confounding factors, with a relationship of severity of cocaine exposure to lower novelty score found for both self-report and biologic measures of exposure, Findings support theories which link prenatal cocaine exposure to deficits in information processing entailing attentional and arousal organizational systems. Neonatal visual discrimination and attention tasks should be further explored as potentially sensitive behavioral indicators of teratologic effects. Keywordscocaine; neonatal visual attention; information processing; marijuana; alcohol poly drug exposure; visual recognition memory Over the past decade, prenatal cocaine exposure has emerged as a significant public health problem, affecting 5-15% of infants in urban areas of the United States. There is concern and controversy over cocaine's teratogenic potential since cocaine easily crosses the placental barrier during gestation (Woods, Plessinger, & Clark, 1987). This transmission of cocaine may directly and indirectly affect the fetus. Cocaine's stimulant effects on several neurotransmitter systems in adults have been noted (Wise, 1984), as cocaine prevents the reuptake of catecholamine presynaptically and has been found to affect primarily the cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems.There are a number of different mechanisms by which prenatal cocaine exposure could affect fetal development (Volpe, 1992). Alterations in catecholamine levels during gestation may affect the maturation of fetal neurotransmitter systems (Tennyson, Gershon, Budinkas, Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.• Lynn T. Singer, The Triangle Building, 11400 Euclid Avenue, Suite 250-A, Cleveland, Ohio 44106; Phone: (216) Fax: (216) & Rothman, 1983;Wang & Schnoll, 1986). Animal studies have found that prenatal cocaine exposure is associated with increased catecholaminergic fiber densities in selected brain areas such as the posterior parietal cortex (Akbari & Azmitra, 1992;Posner & Peterson, 1988). Cocaine exposure may affect fetal brain development through its release and metabolism of monoamines, which are important in the definition of fetal brain structure and neuronal formation . In addition, the reduction of blood flow prenatally to cocaine-exposed fetuses may affect later infant information processing or problem solving .The early behavioral development of cocaine-exposed infants has been studied using measures of sensory-motor processing such as the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), (Brazelton, 1984) neonatall...

Alcohol and drug‐related effects on development: A new emphasis on contextual factors

“…Consistent with animal research (Hutchings, 1993), many effects of cocaine only emerge when the analyses focus on heavily exposed infants (Alessandri et al, 1998;Frank, McCarten, Cabral, Levenson, & Zuckerman, 1992S. Jacobson et al, 1996;Singer et al, 1999;Singer, Arendt, Minnes, Farkas, Guo, & Salvator, 2000;Singer, Arendt, Minnes, Salvator, Siegel, & Lewis, in press). When few main effects are found, investigators need to consider more complex models, namely, those that involve moderator variables that may obscure real and detrimental effects of exposure.…”

Executive Functioning in Preschool-Age Children Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol, Cocaine, and Marijuana

“…Self-report of drug use was investigated with the Maternal Post-Partum Questionnaire (Streissguth et al, 1983) as adapted by Singer et al (1999a). The frequency estimate (reflecting days per week) was multiplied by the daily amount (reported in terms of marijuana joints, cigarettes, drinks equivalent to 0.5 oz of absolute alcohol, or "rocks" of cocaine) to compute an estimate of use for each time period: the month before pregnancy and during each trimester of pregnancy.…”

Prenatal cocaine exposure and child outcomes: a conference report based on a prospective study from Cleveland

“…Neonatal neurobehavioral abnormalities were also evident on standardized exams with the more heavily exposed CE infants exhibiting poorer visual attention, jitteriness, and a higher likelihood of motor and tone abnormalities than the comparison group (Singer et al ., ), suggesting early self‐regulatory problems. Visual attention and discrimination were also deficient in the neonatal period as measured by an assessment of the neonate's established preference for face‐like stimuli (Singer et al ., ), consistent with findings from another cohort study (Coles et al ., ). These neurobehavioral deficits were also visible in the CE infants' interactions with their caregivers, in which they were rated as being less clear in their signals to the caregiver (Minnes et al ., ).…”