Hot and cool forms of inhibitory control and externalizing behavior in children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy: an exploratory study.
This study examined whether children exposed to prenatal smoking show deficits in "hot" and/or "cool" executive functioning (EF). Hot EF is involved in regulation of affect and motivation, whereas cool EF is involved in handling abstract, decontextualized problems. Forty 7 to 9-year-old children (15 exposed to prenatal smoking, 25 non-exposed) performed two computerized tasks. The Sustained Attention Dots (SA-Dots) Task (as a measure of "cool" inhibitory control) requires 400 non-dominant hand and 200 dominant hand responses. Inhibitory control of the prepotent response is required for dominant hand responses. The Delay Frustration Task (DeFT) (as a measure of "hot" inhibitory control) consists of 55 simple maths exercises. On a number of trials delays are introduced before the next question appears on the screen. The extent of response-button pressing during delays indicates frustration-induced inhibitory control. Prenatally exposed children showed poorer inhibitory control in the DeFT than non-exposed children. A dose-response relationship was also observed. In addition, prenatally exposed children had significantly higher (dose-dependent) conduct problem- and hyperactivity-inattention scores. There were no significant group differences in inhibitory control scores from the SA-Dots. These results indicate that children exposed to prenatal smoking are at higher risk of hot but not cool executive function deficits.
Huijbregts
Stephan C J
SC
Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. SHuijbregts@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Warren
Alison J
AJ
de Sonneville
Leo M J
LM
Swaab-Barneveld
Hanna
H
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016487:Parenting; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*