Mothers' Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy: Effects on Spatial-Visual Reasoning in 14-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Fourteen-year-old adolescents' behavior on a spatial-visual reasoning task was associated with self-report of their mothers' alcohol consumption during pregnancy, 15 years earlier The task was arranged so that it was possible to evaluate the examinees' tendency to respond rapidly and less accurately, or slowly and more accurately The greater the mother's reported drinking, the faster and less accurately the adolescent responded The decrement in visual-spatial reasoning related to alcohol appears to be linked to a tendency toward impulsive responding