Description) This project proposes to assess attention in children whose genetic differences may underlie both attention deficits and neurotransmitter dysregulation. Children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome lack genes that encode two neuromodulators that specifically impact dopamine / glutamate / GABA pathways, catechol-O-methytransferase and proline dehydrogenase. Eighty to 100 percent of 22q11 deletion syndrome children are estimated to have learning disabilities and attention deficit. Segregated networks of attention have been localized in the human brain via imaging methods, and the neurochemical substrates of these networks have been suggested.
This research aims to compare 22q11 deletion syndrome children and matched normal controls with regard to: 1) efficiency of three attention networks; 2) pre-pulse inhibition; 3) neuropsychological functioning, temperament and behavior. Findings will be used to further consider the neuroanatomical models of attention, to relate sensory motor gating to these models, and to characterize the association between attention deficits and neuropsychological performance, temperament, and disordered behavior.
| Sobin, Christina; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Monk, Samantha Hadley et al. (2009) Sex differences in the behavior of children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome. Psychiatry Res 166:24-34 |
| Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Sobin, Christina (2006) Social skills and executive function deficits in children with the 22q11 Deletion Syndrome. Appl Neuropsychol 13:258-68 |
| Sobin, Christina; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Dale, Kathryn et al. (2006) Olfactory disorder in children with 22q11 deletion syndrome. Pediatrics 118:e697-703 |
| Sobin, Christina; Monk, Samantha H; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen et al. (2006) Neuromotor deficits in children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome. Mov Disord 21:2082-9 |
| Sobin, C; Kiley-Brabeck, K; Karayiorgou, M (2005) Associations between prepulse inhibition and executive visual attention in children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome. Mol Psychiatry 10:553-62 |
| Sobin, Christina; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Daniels, Sarah et al. (2005) Neuropsychological characteristics of children with the 22q11 Deletion Syndrome: a descriptive analysis. Child Neuropsychol 11:39-53 |
| Sobin, Christina; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Karayiorgou, Maria (2005) Lower prepulse inhibition in children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome. Am J Psychiatry 162:1090-9 |
| Sobin, Christina; Kiley-Brabeck, Karen; Daniels, Sarah et al. (2004) Networks of attention in children with the 22q11 deletion syndrome. Dev Neuropsychol 26:611-26 |
| Sobin, Christina; Roos, J Louw; Pretorius, Herman et al. (2003) A comparison study of early non-psychotic deviant behavior in Afrikaner and US patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Psychiatry Res 117:113-25 |
