An fMRI Study of Number Processing in Children With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Abstract

The data suggest that, whereas control children rely primarily on the fronto-parietal network identified in previous studies to mediate number processing, children with FAS/PFAS recruit a broader range of brain regions to perform these relatively simple number processing tasks. Our results are consistent with structural neuroimaging findings indicating that the parietal lobe is relatively more affected by prenatal alcohol exposure and provide the first evidence for brain activation abnormalities during number processing in children with FAS/PFAS, effects that persist even after controlling statistically for group differences in total intracranial volume and IQ.

Functional Neuroimaging in the Examination of Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

“…Two recent fMRI studies examined functional alterations associated with number processing (Meintjes et al 2010;Santhanam et al 2009) based on behavioral research that suggests that number processing and math are areas of specific deficit in alcohol-exposed individuals (Kable and Coles 2004). Using a subtraction task, with a sample of prenatally exposed young adults and controls (Mean age: 23.2 years) with similar ability level and demographic characteristics, Santhanam and colleagues (2009) reported lower activation by alcohol-affected individuals in parietal and prefrontal regions known to be involved in arithmetic processing (Dehaene et al 2004).…”

Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE): Proposed DSM-5 Diagnosis

“…Deficits in math achievement have regularly been identified in both longitudinal and clinical studies of individuals with PAE [32,34] and linked to alterations in brain structure in this population [34,35]. Repeating grades, school failure, and school drop-out have all been identified as negative outcomes commonly seen among individuals with PAE [36].…”

Radiological studies of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in humans and animal models: An updated comprehensive review

“…In a number-related task requiring the judgement of number proximity, children with FASD either showed less activation in the intraparietal sulcus, one of the regions in the frontoparietal network involved in number processing [120], or used a different network to solve the problems [118]. In exact calculation tasks, brain activation in PAE children was more scattered and widespread compared to controls and included the cerebellar vermis and cortex, regions which have been found to be activated in adults engaged in challenging number processing problems [121].…”