Functional neuroanatomy of visuo-spatial working memory in turner syndrome

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 96 - 107
• Main Authors: Haberecht, Michael F., Menon, Vinod, Warsofsky, Ilana S., White, Christopher D., Dyer-Friedman, Jenny, Glover, Gary H., Neely, E. Kirk, Reiss, Allan L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2001; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; caudate; Caudate Nucleus - pathology; Caudate Nucleus - physiopathology; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Child; Chromosome aberrations; Female; Frontal Lobe - pathology; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Functional Laterality - physiology; functional MRI; Humans; Intelligence Tests; Learning Disorders - etiology; Learning Disorders - pathology; Learning Disorders - physiopathology; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Memory Disorders - pathology; Memory Disorders - physiopathology; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; neuroimaging; Neuropsychological Tests; Original; parietal cortex; Parietal Lobe - pathology; Parietal Lobe - physiopathology; prefrontal cortex; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Space Perception - physiology; spatial cognition; Turner Syndrome - pathology; Turner Syndrome - physiopathology; X monosomy; Chromosomal aberration; Human; Dysgenesia; Image processing; Vision disorder; Sexual differentiation disorder; Cognition; Turner syndrome; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Female genital diseases; Eye disease; Malformation; Gonad; Medical imagery; Functional imaging
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.1044

Turner syndrome (TS), a genetic disorder characterized by the absence of an X chromosome in females, has been associated with cognitive and visuo‐spatial processing impairments. We utilized functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the neural substrates that underlie observed deficits in executive functioning and visuo‐spatial processing. Eleven females with TS and 14 typically developing females (ages 7–20) underwent fMRI scanning while performing 1‐back and 2‐back versions of a standard visuo‐spatial working memory (WM) task. On both tasks, TS subjects performed worse than control subjects. Compared with controls, TS subjects showed increased activation in the left and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) during the 1‐back task and decreased activation in these regions during the 2‐back task. In addition, decreased activation in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and caudate nucleus was observed during the 2‐back task in TS subjects. Activation differences localized to the SMG, in the inferior parietal lobe, may reflect deficits in visuo‐spatial encoding and WM storage mechanisms in TS. In addition, deficits in the DLPFC and caudate may be related to deficits in executive function during WM performance. Together these findings point to deficits in frontal‐striatal and frontal‐parietal circuits subserving multiple WM functions in TS. Hum. Brain Mapping 14:96–107, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.