The effect of early deprivation on executive attention in middle childhood

Abstract

Background Children reared in deprived environments, such as institutions for the care of orphaned or abandoned children, are at increased risk for attention and behavior regulation difficulties. This study examined the neurobehavioral correlates of executive attention in post-institutionalized (PI) children. Methods The performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) of 10- and 11-year-old internationally adopted PI children on two executive attention tasks, Go/No-go and Flanker, were compared to two groups: children internationally adopted early from foster care (PF) and non-adopted children (NA). Results Behavioral measures suggested problems with sustained attention, with PIs performing more poorly on Go trials and not on No-go trials of the Go/No-go and made more errors on both congruent and incongruent trials on the Flanker. ERPs suggested differences in inhibitory control and error monitoring, as PIs had smaller N2 amplitude on Go/No-go and smaller error-related negativity on Flanker. Conclusions This pattern of results raises questions regarding the nature of attention difficulties for PI children. The behavioral errors are not specific to executive attention and instead likely reflect difficulties in overall sustained attention. The ERP results are consistent with neural activity related to deficits in inhibitory control (N2) and error monitoring (error-related negativity). Questions emerge regarding the similarity of attention regulatory difficulties in PIs to those experienced by non-PI children with ADHD.

Deviations from the Expectable Environment in Early Childhood and Emerging Psychopathology

“…However, some have questioned whether attentional difficulties among children who experienced institutional rearing are the same as those experienced by noninstitutionalized youth. For example, Loman et al (2013) found that behavior on a Go/No-Go task was more reflective of overall sustained attention deficits among previously institutionalized youth, rather than specifically related to executive attention.…”

Neural Correlates of Face Familiarity in Institutionally Reared Children With Distinctive, Atypical Social Behavior

“…Research on institutionalized children, which reveals both neural markers of lack of attention/response monitoring, and behavioral inaccuracy in performing a required response, highlights this as a major difficulty in these children (Loman et al, 2013;McDermott, Westerlund, Zeanah, Nelson, & Fox, 2012). Consistent with the two studies just cited, the behavioral performance of institutionalized children in the current study (i.e., error of omission of a response in Go trials, but accuracy in inhibiting a response in No-go trials) reflects difficulties in sustained attention, rather than selective attention or inhibitory control.…”

Predictors and Correlates of Inattentive/Overactive Behaviors in Internationally Adopted Children

“…Adoption demographic predictors, such as institutional caregiving as opposed to foster care (Loman et al, 2013;McDermott et al, 2012;Merz & McCall, 2010;Roy & Rutter, 2006) and adoption from countries with profoundly depriving orphanage care, such as Eastern Europe and Russia (Abrines et al, 2012;Barcons-Castel et al, 2011;Gunnar et al, 2007Gunnar et al, , 2012Lindblad et al, 2010), are consistently linked to a greater risk for inattentive=overactive difficulties.…”