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fNIRS in Africa & Asia: an Objective Measure of Cognitive Development for Global Health Settings
Author(s) -
LloydFox Sarah,
Moore Sophie,
Darboe Momodou,
Prentice Andrew,
Papademetriou Maria,
Blasi Anna,
Kumar Swapna,
Westerlund Alissa,
Perdue Katherine L,
Johnson Mark H,
Nelson Charles A,
Elwell Clare E
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.1149.18
Subject(s) - functional near infrared spectroscopy , cognition , psychology , neuroimaging , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , prefrontal cortex
The goal of our work is to establish assessments to evaluate the impact of early risk on cognitive development in infancy and childhood in global health settings. Prior work using functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has shown differential brain responses in infants to social vs. nonsocial stimuli in urban European (Lloyd‐Fox et al., 2009; 2013) cohorts. This experimental paradigm has been proposed as an objective measure of social cognition that can be used in many different cohorts with minimal adaptation. Cortical mapping of the brain during infancy is rarely undertaken in low‐income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) ‐ which uses the absorption of near infrared light to non‐invasively measure changes in oxygen in the blood ‐ is an elegant method for assessing cognitive function in such settings. Participants, ranging in age from 4 – 8 months (UK: N = 64; The Gambia: N = 24; Bangladesh: N = 23), were tested with a multi‐channel NIRS system that recorded brain activity over the frontal and temporal cortices. The experimental stimuli presented were videos of people moving their eyes or hands (i.e. a “Peek‐a‐boo” game), accompanied by vocal sounds (i.e. yawn, laughter), non‐vocal sounds (i.e. water running, bell), or silence. Social videos were alternated with control blocks of pictures of local modes of transportation presented with no sounds. Here we present a comparison of data collected in urban European, rural African and urban Asian cohorts. Participants in The Gambia lived in a rural community of subsistence farmers and participants in Bangladesh lived in an urban slum. Both cohorts were exposed to a broad range of adversity early in life including poverty, under‐nourishment, recurrent infections, and lack of maternal education. Our results indicate specialised social > non‐social activation in the superior and middle temporal cortex across all three cohorts and across 4 – 36 months of life. These results confirm the suitability of fNIRS in this age group in a resource poor setting. Changes in cortical haemoglobin may afford early biomarkers that are more sensitive to nutritional insults and early adversity affecting cognition than current standardised behavioural measures. Support or Funding Information Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medical Research Council UK,