Revue de neuropsychologie
MENUThe contribution of cognitive neuroscience towards studying the impact of environmental contaminants on brain function development Volume 4, issue 3, Juillet-Août-Septembre 2012
- Key words: heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, cognition, vision, development, electrophysiology
- DOI : 10.1684/nrp.2012.0233
- Page(s) : 163-73
- Published in: 2012
Human studies on the neurotoxicity associated with chronic exposure to environmental contaminants have targeted cognitive functions such as IQ and memory. Cognitive neurosciences offer additional tools for understanding brain dysfunction that were used to study the effects of in utero and postnatal exposure on the development of brain function in a cohort of Inuit children in Northern Quebec in Canada. Blood levels of exposure were measured at birth and at the time of evaluation. Associations between contaminants and brain functions were estimated from multiple regression analyzes. Behavioral and cognitive deficits have been observed at preschool and school age. Using psychophysical and electrophysiological methods, we also demonstrated deficits in visual information processing and visuospatial attention. These findings emphasize the importance of considering multiple levels of information processing in the evaluation of developmental neurotoxicity.