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Effects of Early Thyroid Hormone Deficiency on Children's Autobiographical Memory Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2013

Karen A. Willoughby ,
Mary Pat McAndrews  and
Joanne Rovet
Karen A. Willoughby
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Mary Pat McAndrews
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Joanne Rovet*
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Joanne Rovet, Department of Psychology, Rovet Lab, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto ON, Canada, M5G1X8. E-mail: joanne.rovet@sickkids.ca
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Abstract

Memory deficits and hippocampal abnormalities have been described in individuals with thyroid hormone (TH) insufficiencies; however, no study has yet examined their autobiographical memory (AM) abilities, which are known to be compromised by hippocampal damage. Investigations in adults have shown that AM consists of both episodic and semantic components and that the hippocampus is preferentially involved in episodic AM. The present study used the Children's Autobiographical Interview (CAI) to study episodic and semantic AM in 79 children aged 9 to 14 years, including 26 with early-treated congenital hypothyroidism (CH), 23 born to women with inadequately treated hypothyroidism during pregnancy (HYPO), and 30 typically developing controls. Results showed that relative to controls, CH and HYPO groups both exhibited weaknesses in episodic AM, but not semantic AM. In particular, CH and HYPO groups showed difficulty in recalling event details (i.e., the main happenings) and visual details from past experiences. Overall, this study highlights the importance of TH for early neurodevelopment and provides critical new insight into the effects of early treated TH deficiency on long-term memory performance. Furthermore, the present study indicates that the CAI is an effective tool for investigating episodic AM impairment in clinical pediatric populations. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–11)

Keywords

Episodic memorySemantic memoryVisualHippocampusCongenital hypothyroidismMaternal hypothyroidism
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , April 2013 , pp. 419 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2013

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