A Pilot Study Examining the Effects of Music Training on Attention in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

Prior studies indicate differences in brain volume and neurophysiological responses of musicians relative to non-musicians. These differences are observed in the sensory, motor, parietal, and frontal cortex. Children with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) experience deficits in auditory, motor, and executive function domains. Therefore, we hypothesized that short-term music training in children with an FASD due to prenatal alcohol exposure may improve brain function. Children (N = 20) with an FASD were randomized to participate in either five weeks of piano training or to a control group. Selective attention was evaluated approximately seven weeks apart (pre-/post-music training or control intervention), examining longitudinal effects using the Attention Networks Test (ANT), a well-established paradigm designed to evaluate attention and inhibitory control, while recording EEG. There was a significant group by pre-/post-intervention interaction for the P250 ms peak of the event-related potential and for theta (4-7 Hz) power in the 100-300 ms time window in response to the congruent condition when the flanking stimuli were oriented congruently with the central target stimulus in fronto-central midline channels from Cz to Fz. A trend for improved reaction time at the second assessment was observed for the music trained group only. These results support the hypothesis that music training changes the neural indices of attention as assessed by the ANT in children with an FASD. This study should be extended to evaluate the effects of music training relative to a more closely matched active control and determine whether additional improvements emerge with longer term music training.

Amplitude by Peak Interaction but No Evidence of Auditory Mismatch Response Deficits to Frequency Change in Preschool-Aged Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies indicate that the auditory mismatch response is sensitive to early alterations in brain development in multiple developmental disorders. Prenatal alcohol exposure is known to impact early auditory processing. The current study hypothesized alterations in the mismatch response in young children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). METHODS: Participants in this study were 9 children with a FASD and 17 control children (Control) aged 3 to 6 years. Participants underwent magnetoencephalography and structural magnetic resonance imaging scans separately. We compared groups on neurophysiological mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to auditory stimuli measured using the auditory oddball paradigm. Frequent (1,000 Hz) and rare (1,200 Hz) tones were presented at 72 dB. RESULTS: There was no significant group difference in MMN response latency or amplitude represented by the peak located ~200 ms after stimulus presentation in the difference time course between frequent and infrequent tones. Examining the time courses to the frequent and infrequent tones separately, repeated measures analysis of variance with condition (frequent vs. rare), peak (N100m and N200m), and hemisphere as within-subject factors and diagnosis and sex as the between-subject factors showed a significant interaction of peak by diagnosis (p = 0.001), with a pattern of decreased amplitude from N100m to N200m in Control children and the opposite pattern in children with FASD. However, no significant difference was found with the simple effects comparisons. No group differences were found in the response latencies of the rare auditory evoked fields. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that there was no detectable effect of alcohol exposure on the amplitude or latency of the MMNm response to simple tones modulated by frequency change in preschool-aged children with FASD. However, while discrimination abilities to simple tones may be intact, early auditory sensory processing revealed by the interaction between N100m and N200m amplitude indicates that auditory sensory processing may be altered in children with FASD.

Altered Neural Oscillations During Multisensory Integration in Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), who were exposed to alcohol in utero, display a broad range of sensory, cognitive, and behavioral deficits, which are broadly theorized to be rooted in altered brain function and structure. Based on the role of neural oscillations in multisensory integration from past studies, we hypothesized that adolescents with FASD would show a decrease in oscillatory power during event-related gamma oscillatory activity (30 to 100 Hz), when compared to typically developing healthy controls (HC), and that such decrease in oscillatory power would predict behavioral performance. METHODS: We measured sensory neurophysiology using magnetoencephalography (MEG) during passive auditory, somatosensory, and multisensory (synchronous) stimulation in 19 adolescents (12 to 21 years) with FASD and 23 age- and gender-matched HC. We employed a cross-hemisphere multisensory paradigm to assess interhemispheric connectivity deficits in children with FASD. RESULTS: Time-frequency analysis of MEG data revealed a significant decrease in gamma oscillatory power for both unisensory and multisensory conditions in the FASD group relative to HC, based on permutation testing of significant group differences. Greater beta oscillatory power (15 to 30 Hz) was also noted in the FASD group compared to HC in both unisensory and multisensory conditions. Regression analysis revealed greater predictive power of multisensory oscillations from unisensory oscillations in the FASD group compared to the HC group. Furthermore, multisensory oscillatory power, for both groups, predicted performance on the Intra-Extradimensional Set Shift Task and the Cambridge Gambling Task. CONCLUSIONS: Altered oscillatory power in the FASD group may reflect a restricted ability to process somatosensory and multisensory stimuli during day-to-day interactions. These alterations in neural oscillations may be associated with the neurobehavioral deficits experienced by adolescents with FASD and may carry over to adulthood.

Primary visual response (M100) delays in adolescents with FASD as measured with MEG.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are debilitating, with effects of prenatal alcohol exposure persisting into adolescence and adulthood. Complete characterization of FASD is crucial for the development of diagnostic tools and intervention techniques to decrease the high cost to individual families and society of this disorder. In this experiment, we investigated visual system deficits in adolescents (12-21 years) diagnosed with an FASD by measuring the latency of patients' primary visual M100 responses using MEG. We hypothesized that patients with FASD would demonstrate delayed primary visual responses compared to controls. M100 latencies were assessed both for FASD patients and age-matched healthy controls for stimuli presented at the fovea (central stimulus) and at the periphery (peripheral stimuli; left or right of the central stimulus) in a saccade task requiring participants to direct their attention and gaze to these stimuli. Source modeling was performed on visual responses to the central and peripheral stimuli and the latency of the first prominent peak (M100) in the occipital source timecourse was identified. The peak latency of the M100 responses were delayed in FASD patients for both stimulus types (central and peripheral), but the difference in latency of primary visual responses to central vs. peripheral stimuli was significant only in FASD patients, indicating that, while FASD patients' visual systems are impaired in general, this impairment is more pronounced in the periphery. These results suggest that basic sensory deficits in this population may contribute to sensorimotor integration deficits described previously in this disorder.

Delays in auditory processing identified in preschool children with FASD.

BACKGROUND: Both sensory and cognitive deficits have been associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol; however, very few studies have focused on sensory deficits in preschool-aged children. As sensory skills develop early, characterization of sensory deficits using novel imaging methods may reveal important neural markers of prenatal alcohol exposure. METHODS: Participants in this study were 10 children with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and 15 healthy control (HC) children aged 3 to 6 years. All participants had normal hearing as determined by clinical screens. We measured their neurophysiological responses to auditory stimuli (1,000 Hz, 72 dB tone) using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We used a multidipole spatio-temporal modeling technique to identify the location and timecourse of cortical activity in response to the auditory tones. The timing and amplitude of the left and right superior temporal gyrus sources associated with activation of left and right primary/secondary auditory cortices were compared across groups. RESULTS: There was a significant delay in M100 and M200 latencies for the FASD children relative to the HC children (p = 0.01), when including age as a covariate. The within-subjects effect of hemisphere was not significant. A comparable delay in M100 and M200 latencies was observed in children across the FASD subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Auditory delay revealed by MEG in children with FASDs may prove to be a useful neural marker of information processing difficulties in young children with prenatal alcohol exposure. The fact that delayed auditory responses were observed across the FASD spectrum suggests that it may be a sensitive measure of alcohol-induced brain damage. Therefore, this measure in conjunction with other clinical tools may prove useful for early identification of alcohol affected children, particularly those without dysmorphia.

Decreased resting-state alpha peak frequency in children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or prenatal alcohol exposure.

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can result in long-lasting changes to physical, behavioral, and cognitive functioning in children. PAE might result in decreased white matter integrity, corticothalamic tract integrity, and alpha cortical oscillations. Previous investigations of alpha oscillations in PAE/fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have focused on average spectral power at specific ages; therefore, little is known about alpha peak frequency (APF) or its developmental trajectory making this research novel. Using resting-state MEG data, APF was determined from parietal/occipital regions in participants with PAE/FASD or typically developing controls (TDC). In total, MEG data from 157 infants, children, and adolescents ranging in age from 6 months to 17 years were used, including 17 individuals with PAE, 61 individuals with an FASD and 84 TDC. In line with our hypothesis, we found that individuals with PAE/FASD had significantly reduced APF relative to TDC. Both age and group were significantly related to APF with differences between TDC and PAE/FASD persisting throughout development. We did not find evidence that sex or socioeconomic status had additional impact on APF. Reduced APF in individuals with an FASD/PAE may represent a long-term deficit and demonstrates the detrimental impact prenatal alcohol exposure can have on neurophysiological processes.

From research to practice: an integrative framework for the development of interventions for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Since fetal alcohol syndrome was first described over 35 years ago, considerable progress has been made in the delineation of the neurocognitive profile in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Preclinical investigators have made impressive strides in elucidating the mechanisms of alcohol teratogenesis and in testing the effectiveness of pharmacological agents and dietary supplementation in the amelioration of alcohol-induced deficits. Despite these advances, only limited progress has been made in the development of evidence-based comprehensive interventions for functional impairment in alcohol-exposed children. Having performed a search in PubMed and PsycINFO using key words, interventions, treatment, fetal alcohol syndrome, prenatal alcohol exposure, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, we found only 12 papers on empirically-based interventions. Only two of these interventions had been replicated and none met the criteria of "well-established," as defined by Chambless and Hollon (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 66(1):7-18, 1998). There has been only limited cross-fertilization of ideas between preclinical and clinical research with regard to the development of interventions. Therefore, we propose a framework that allows integrating data from preclinical and clinical investigations to develop comprehensive intervention programs for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. This framework underscores the importance of multi-level evaluations and interventions.

Portable Acquisition of Auditory ERPs: A Pilot Study of Premature Infants.

BACKGROUND: Prior work suggests that event-related potential (ERP) studies in infancy may help predict developmental outcome. METHODS: As part of a longitudinal study of early child development, we used the auditory oddball stimulus paradigm with a portable electroencephalography system to obtain ERP data from two-month-old infants (32 term, six preterm) in Sri Lanka. The mismatch negativity was calculated between 200 and 350 milliseconds after stimulus presentation. RESULTS: We found a significant correlation between birth weight and mismatch negativity (P = 0.046), and our time-frequency analysis indicated power differences between standard and oddball tones at approximately 5 and 18 Hz. There was no significant difference between mismatch negativity in children undergoing ERP studies in a hospital setting (30) versus in the child's home (eight). CONCLUSIONS: Although our modest sample size precludes drawing definitive conclusions, these preliminary results show that it is possible to acquire ERP datasets using currently available portable technology in a hospital or home setting, even in a developing nation such as Sri Lanka. Follow-up of this cohort will include developmental assessments, which will add to the growing literature relating early electrophysiology to developmental outcome.

A Comparative Analysis of the ADOS-G and ADOS-2 Algorithms: Preliminary Findings.

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) is a widely utilized observational assessment tool for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders. The original ADOS was succeeded by the ADOS-G with noted improvements. More recently, the ADOS-2 was introduced to further increase its diagnostic accuracy. Studies examining the validity of the ADOS have produced mixed findings, and pooled relationship trends between the algorithm versions are yet to be analyzed. The current review seeks to compare the relative merits of the ADOS-G and ADOS-2 algorithms, Modules 1-3. Eight studies met inclusion criteria for the review, and six were selected for paired comparisons of the sensitivity and specificity of the ADOS. Results indicate several contradictory findings, underscoring the importance of further study.

Language and literacy outcomes from a pilot intervention study for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in South Africa.

This pilot study investigated the efficacy of a classroom language and literacy intervention in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The study forms part of a larger, ongoing study that includes metacognitive and family support interventions in addition to language and literacy training (LLT). For the LLT study, 65 nine-year-old children identified as either FASD or not prenatally exposed to alcohol, were recruited. Forty children with FASD were randomly assigned to either a LLT intervention group or FASD control group (FASD-C). Twenty-five nonalcohol-exposed children were randomly selected as nonexposed controls (NONEXP-C). Prior to intervention and after nine school-term months of treatment, general scholastic tests, teacher and parent questionnaires, classroom observations and specific language and literacy tests were administered to the participants. The nine months assessment reflects the midpoint and the first assessment stage of the overall study. At initial diagnosis and prior to commencement of the interventions, participants with FASD were significantly weaker than NONEXP-C children in reading, spelling, addition, subtraction, phonological awareness, and other tests of early literacy. Teachers rated a range of adaptive behaviors of children with FASD as significantly worse than NONEXP-C. Mean scholastic and language and literacy scores for all groups showed improvement over baseline scores after 9 months of intervention. The mean test scores of children with FASD remained lower than those of NONEXP-C. Comparison of mean baseline to postintervention score changes between the LLT, FASD-C, and NONEXP-C groups revealed that although there were no significant gains by the LLT intervention group over control groups on the general scholastic assessment battery, significantly greater improvements occurred in the LLT intervention group compared to the FASD-C group in specific categories of language and early literacy. These categories were syllable manipulation, letter sound knowledge, written letters, word reading and nonword reading, and spelling. In spite of cognitive and classroom behavioral difficulties, children with FASD from a vulnerable environment demonstrated significant cognitive improvements in specific areas targeted by classroom interventions. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a systematic classroom intervention and resultant cognitive response in children with FASD.

Letter and category fluency in children with fetal alcohol syndrome from a community in South Africa.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether there were differential effects of substantial prenatal alcohol exposure on letter and category fluency in children. Given that children with prenatal alcohol exposure are often impaired in executive functioning and that letter fluency taxes executive processes more than category fluency, it was expected that children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) would be more impaired in letter than in category fluency. A second objective of the study was to examine the developmental trends in the two types of fluency in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. It was hypothesized that between the ages of 6 and 9 years, these FAS children would show age-related changes in category fluency but not in letter fluency. METHOD: As part of a neuropsychological test battery designed for an international collaborative study of FAS in South Africa, tests of letter and category fluency were administered in Afrikaans. The participants were 62 children with FAS and 61 controls matched with respect to age, gender (58 boys and 65 girls), ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. RESULTS: Results showed that the FAS group had relatively greater difficulty with letter fluency than with category fluency and that the FAS group generated fewer words in both fluency conditions. Contrary to the expectation, however, alcohol-affected children demonstrated age-related linear trends in both letter and category fluency. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study of verbal fluency involving a large sample of well-diagnosed children with FAS conducted in a nonwestern environment. The results are nonetheless consistent with those obtained in western countries in studies of children with various levels of prenatal alcohol exposure and various levels of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. This study suggests that at least some aspects of the cognitive profile associated with prenatal alcohol exposure may be generalizable across cultural and ethnic boundaries.

Fetal alcohol syndrome epidemiology in a South African community: a second study of a very high prevalence area.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in a second primary school cohort in a community in South Africa. METHOD: Active case ascertainment, two-tier screening, and Institute of Medicine assessment methodology were employed among 857 first grade pupils, most born in 1993. Characteristics of children with FAS were contrasted with characteristics of a randomly selected control group from the same classrooms. Physical growth and development, dysmorphology and psychological characteristics of the children and measures of maternal alcohol use and smoking were analyzed. RESULTS: The rate of FAS found in this study is the highest yet reported in any overall community in the world, 65.2-74.2 per 1,000 children in the first grade population. These rates are 33-148 times greater than U.S. estimates and higher than in a previous cohort study in this same community (40.5-46.4 per 1,000). Detailed documentation of physical features indicates that FAS children in South Africa have characteristics similar to those elsewhere: poor growth and development, facial and limb dysmorphology, and lower intellectual functioning. Frequent, severe episodic drinking of beer and wine is common among mothers and fathers of FAS children. Their lives are characterized by serious familial, social and economic challenges, compared with controls. Heavy episodic maternal drinking is significantly associated with negative outcomes of children in the area of nonverbal intelligence but even more so in verbal intelligence, behavior and overall dysmorphology (physical anomalies). Significantly more FAS exists among children of women who were rural residents (odds ratio: 7.36, 95% confidence interval: 3.31-16.52), usually among workers on local farms. CONCLUSION: A high rate of FAS was documented in this community. Given social and economic similarities and racial admixture, we suspect that other communities in the Western Cape have rates that also are quite high.

Aberrant development of post-movement beta rebound in adolescents and young adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Dependent on maternal (e.g. genetic, age) and exposure (frequency, quantity, and timing) variables, the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing fetus are known to vary widely, producing a broad range of morphological anomalies and neurocognitive deficits in offspring, referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Maternal drinking during pregnancy remains a leading risk factor for the development of intellectual disabilities in the US. While few functional findings exist today that shed light on the mechanisms responsible for the observed impairments in individuals with FASD, animal models consistently report deleterious effects of early alcohol exposure on GABA-ergic inhibitory pathways. The post-motor beta rebound (PMBR), a transient increase of 15-30 Hz beta power in the motor cortex that follows the termination of movement, has been implicated as a neural signature of GABA-ergic inhibitory activity. Further, PMBR has been shown to be a reliable predictor of age in adolescents. The present study sought to investigate any differences in the development of PMBR between FASD and control groups. Beta event-related de-synchronization (ERD) and movement-related gamma synchronization (MRGS), although not clearly linked to brain maturation, were also examined. Twenty-two participants with FASD and 22 age and sex-matched controls (12-22 years old) underwent magnetoencephalography scans while performing an auditory oddball task, which required a button press in response to select target stimuli. The data surrounding the button presses were localized to the participants' motor cortices, and the time courses from the locations of the maximally evoked PMBR were subjected to wavelet analyses. The subsequent analysis of PMBR, ERD, and MRGS revealed a significant interaction between group and age in their effects on PMBR. While age had a significant effect on PMBR in the controls, no simple effects of age were detected in the FASD group. The FASD group additionally displayed decreased overall ERD levels. No group or age effects on MRGS were detected. The described findings provide further evidence for broad impairments in inhibitory processes in adolescents with FASD, possibly related to aberrant development of GABA-ergic pathways.

Sex-related differences in auditory processing in adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A magnetoencephalographic study.

Children exposed to substantial amounts of alcohol in utero display a broad range of morphological and behavioral outcomes, which are collectively referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Common to all children on the spectrum are cognitive and behavioral problems that reflect central nervous system dysfunction. Little is known, however, about the potential effects of variables such as sex on alcohol-induced brain damage. The goal of the current research was to utilize magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the effect of sex on brain dynamics in adolescents and young adults with FASD during the performance of an auditory oddball task. The stimuli were short trains of 1 kHz "standard" tone bursts (80%) randomly interleaved with 1.5 kHz "target" tone bursts (10%) and "novel" digital sounds (10%). Participants made motor responses to the target tones. Results are reported for 44 individuals (18 males and 26 females) ages 12 through 22 years. Nine males and 13 females had a diagnosis of FASD and the remainder were typically-developing age- and sex-matched controls. The main finding was widespread sex-specific differential activation of the frontal, medial and temporal cortex in adolescents with FASD compared to typically developing controls. Significant differences in evoked-response and time-frequency measures of brain dynamics were observed for all stimulus types in the auditory cortex, inferior frontal sulcus and hippocampus. These results underscore the importance of considering the influence of sex when analyzing neurophysiological data in children with FASD.

Reduced hippocampal volume and total white matter volume in posttraumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND: Reduced hippocampal volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients are thought to reflect specific changes of this structure. Previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have not consistently examined indices of overall brain atrophy, therefore it cannot be completely ruled out that hippocampal changes are explained by whole-brain atrophy. The purpose of this study was to assess hippocampal and whole-brain volume in civilian PTSD. METHODS: Twelve subjects with PTSD and 10 control subjects underwent brain MRI. Hippocampal volumes were visually quantified using a computerized volumetric program. Whole-brain volumes were obtained with automated k-means-based segmentation. RESULTS: No differences were found in intracranial volumes (ICV). Subjects with PTSD had higher cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/ICV ratios and lower white matter/ICV ratios, consistent with generalized white matter (WM) atrophy. The effect of age on CSF/ICV was more pronounced in the PTSD group. Subjects with PTSD had smaller absolute and normalized bilateral hippocampal volumes. These differences persisted after adjusting for lifetime weeks of alcohol intoxication. Posttraumatic stress disorder and depression scores correlated negatively with left hippocampal volume, but PTSD scores were a better predictor of hippocampal volumes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results replicate previous findings of reduced hippocampal volume in PTSD but also suggest independent, generalized, white matter atrophy.

Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are impaired at place learning but not cued-navigation in a virtual Morris water task.

We employed a computerized (virtual) Morris water task (VMWT) to measure place learning and cued-navigation in eight adolescent males (9.5-16.5 years old) diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Eight adolescent males matched for age and ethnicity with no history of prenatal alcohol exposure served as controls. Participants were trained to navigate to a hidden platform in a fixed location relative to a set of four conspicuous extramaze cues. After 20 hidden platform trials, a single no-platform probe trial was conducted, followed by 8 trials during which the platform was visible (cued-navigation). The FAS group traveled further than controls to navigate to the hidden platform during training. During the probe trial, controls navigated more directly to the platform region and persisted in searching where the platform had been more than the FAS group. Cued-navigation was comparable in both groups, suggesting that group differences in place learning were not attributable to visual-motor or motivational deficits in the FAS subjects. This pattern of impaired place learning and spared cued-navigation is similar to that reported in rats exposed to ethanol during periods of prenatal or early postnatal brain growth, as well as in animals with hippocampal damage.

Characteristics of mothers of children with fetal alcohol syndrome in the Western Cape Province of South Africa: a case control study.

OBJECTIVE: Factors associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) births were examined as part of a larger epidemiologic study of FAS in a community in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. METHOD: Using retrospective case-control methodology, 31 mothers who had given birth to FAS children 6 to 9 years previously were compared with 31 matched controls on a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, drinking, family and maternity variables. Descriptive analyses were utilized to determine major differential characteristics between the two groups. RESULTS: In this community with a very high rate of FAS and rather uniform low socioeconomic status, the two groups were found to be comparable with respect to age, annual income, ethnic background, age of initiation of regular drinking, age at birth of the index child, gravidity and parity. However, mothers of FAS children reported initiating drinking at an earlier age, as well as reporting higher rates of heavy alcohol consumption in their extended family, current use of alcohol, drinking before and during pregnancy, and smoking of tobacco (percentage who smoke) during each trimester of the pregnancy. Mothers of FAS children had lower educational attainment and reported lower religiosity than control mothers. CONCLUSIONS: This study in South Africa draws upon the experience of mothers of 31 children with FAS to confirm many of the same high-risk variables identified in maternal risk studies in the United States and Europe. Some factors associated with less maternal alcohol abuse in this high-risk population were also identified, which may be helpful for implementing prevention in this region as well as in other developing countries.

Differences in MEG gamma oscillatory power during performance of a prosaccade task in adolescents with FASD.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is characterized by a broad range of behavioral and cognitive deficits that impact the long-term quality of life for affected individuals. However, the underlying changes in brain structure and function associated with these cognitive impairments are not well-understood. Previous studies identified deficits in behavioral performance of prosaccade tasks in children with FASD. In this study, we investigated group differences in gamma oscillations during performance of a prosaccade task. We collected magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 15 adolescents with FASD and 20 age-matched healthy controls (HC) with a mean age of 15.9 ± 0.4 years during performance of a prosaccade task. Eye movement was recorded and synchronized to the MEG data using an MEG compatible eye-tracker. The MEG data were analyzed relative to the onset of the visual saccade. Time-frequency analysis was performed using Fieldtrip with a focus on group differences in gamma-band oscillations. Following left target presentation, we identified four clusters over right frontal, right parietal, and left temporal/occipital cortex, with significantly different gamma-band (30-50 Hz) power between FASD and HC. Furthermore, visual M100 latencies described in Coffman etal. (2012) corresponded with increased gamma power over right central cortex in FASD only. Gamma-band differences were not identified for stimulus-averaged responses implying that these gamma-band differences were related to differences in saccade network functioning. These differences in gamma-band power may provide indications of atypical development of cortical networks in individuals with FASD.

A baseline for the multivariate comparison of resting-state networks.

As the size of functional and structural MRI datasets expands, it becomes increasingly important to establish a baseline from which diagnostic relevance may be determined, a processing strategy that efficiently prepares data for analysis, and a statistical approach that identifies important effects in a manner that is both robust and reproducible. In this paper, we introduce a multivariate analytic approach that optimizes sensitivity and reduces unnecessary testing. We demonstrate the utility of this mega-analytic approach by identifying the effects of age and gender on the resting-state networks (RSNs) of 603 healthy adolescents and adults (mean age: 23.4 years, range: 12-71 years). Data were collected on the same scanner, preprocessed using an automated analysis pipeline based in SPM, and studied using group independent component analysis. RSNs were identified and evaluated in terms of three primary outcome measures: time course spectral power, spatial map intensity, and functional network connectivity. Results revealed robust effects of age on all three outcome measures, largely indicating decreases in network coherence and connectivity with increasing age. Gender effects were of smaller magnitude but suggested stronger intra-network connectivity in females and more inter-network connectivity in males, particularly with regard to sensorimotor networks. These findings, along with the analysis approach and statistical framework described here, provide a useful baseline for future investigations of brain networks in health and disease.

A neurodevelopmental framework for the development of interventions for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Despite considerable data published on cognitive and behavioral disabilities in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), relatively little information is available on behavioral or pharmacological interventions for alcohol-affected children. The main goals of this article, therefore, are to summarize published intervention studies of FASD and to present a neurodevelopmental framework, based on recent findings from a number of disciplines, for designing new therapies for alcohol-affected children. This framework assumes a neuroconstructionist view, which posits that reciprocal interactions between neural activity and the brain's hardware lead to the progressive formation of intra- and interregional neural connections. In this view, behavioral interventions can be conceptualized as a series of guided experiences that are designed to produce neural activation. Based on evidence from cognitive neuroscience, it is hypothesized that specific interventions targeting executive attention and self-regulation may produce greater generalizable results than those aimed at domain-specific skills in children with FASD. In view of reciprocal interactions between environmental effects and neural structures, the proposed framework suggests that the maximum effects of interventions can eventually be achieved by optimally combining behavioral methods and cognition-enhancing drugs.