Method
Twenty-two children (mean age = 52.17 months, SD = 1.81) prenatally exposed to methadone, 9 children (mean age = 52.41 months, SD = 1.42) prenatally exposed to buprenorphine and 25 nonexposed comparison children (mean age = 51.44 months, SD = 1.31) were tested. Visual selective attention was measured with a Tobii 1750 Eye Tracker using a spatial negative priming paradigm. Attention problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist.
Results
The comparison group demonstrated a larger spatial negative priming effect (mean = 23.50, SD =45.50) than the exposed group [mean = -6.84, SD = 86.39, F(1,50) = 5.91, p = 0.019, η2= 0.11]. No difference in reported attention problems was found [F(1,51) = 1.63, p = 0.21, η2 = 0.03]. Neonatal abstinence syndrome and prenatal exposure to marijuana were found to predict slower saccade latencies in the exposed group (b = 54.55, SE = 23.56, p = 0.03 and b = 88.86, SE = 32.07, p = 0.01, respectively).
Conclusion
Although exposed children did not appear to have attention deficits in daily life, lower performance on the SNP task indicates subtle alteration in the attention system.
Link til artikkel
- Forfattere: Konijnenberg, Carolien; Melinder, Annika Maria D.
- Publisert: European Addiction Research 2015 ;Volum 21.(2) s. 63-70