title: Atypical functional lateralization in children with fetal alcohol syndrome.
abstract: In order to explore effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on functional lateralization, item tasks measuring preferences of hand, foot, eye, and ear were administered to a sample of 23 children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) compared with typically developing (TD) children. In addition, a dichotic listening task was administered to a subsample of 11 children with FAS and a TD group of comparable age, sex and handedness. The children with FAS were characterized by increased nonright-handedness compared with TD children. No differences were evident for preferential use of foot, eye, or ear. Moreover, children with FAS displayed more right ear extinctions during dichotic listening relative to TD children, indicating a lack of right ear advantage. The results add to findings of decreased manual asymmetry and less left-lateralized speech perception in children with developmental disorders, and are further discussed in relation to the high incidence of callosal abnormalities in alcohol-exposed children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology Umeå University SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. erik.domellof@psy.umu.se
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domellöf
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rönnqvist
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Titran
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Esseily
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fagard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires