Stunting in infancy is associated with atypical activation of working memory and attention networks.

Autor: Wijeakumar S; School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. sobanawartiny.wijeakumar@nottingham.ac.uk., Forbes SH; Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK., Magnotta VA; Department of Radiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA., Deoni S; Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Discovery & Tools, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA.; Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, New England Pediatric Institute of Neurodevelopment, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA., Jackson K; School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK., Singh VP; Community Empowerment Lab, Lucknow, India., Tiwari M; Community Empowerment Lab, Lucknow, India., Kumar A; Community Empowerment Lab, Lucknow, India., Spencer JP; School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. j.spencer@uea.ac.uk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature human behaviour [Nat Hum Behav] 2023 Dec; Vol. 7 (12), pp. 2199-2211. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 26.
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01725-3
Abstrakt: Stunting is associated with poor long-term cognitive, academic and economic outcomes, yet the mechanisms through which stunting impacts cognition in early development remain unknown. In a first-ever neuroimaging study conducted on infants from rural India, we demonstrate that stunting impacts a critical, early-developing cognitive system-visual working memory. Stunted infants showed poor visual working memory performance and were easily distractible. Poor performance was associated with reduced engagement of the left anterior intraparietal sulcus, a region involved in visual working memory maintenance and greater suppression in the right temporoparietal junction, a region involved in attentional shifting. When assessed one year later, stunted infants had lower problem-solving scores, while infants of normal height with greater left anterior intraparietal sulcus activation showed higher problem-solving scores. Finally, short-for-age infants with poor physical growth indices but good visual working memory performance showed more positive outcomes suggesting that intervention efforts should focus on improving working memory and reducing distractibility in infancy.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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