Auditory vs. general information processing deficits in infants of mothers who smoked during their pregnancy
Abstract
Research on the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy have suggested that offspring have a general cognitive deficit and a differential deficit in the area of auditory processing. Infant cardiac responses to auditory and visual stimuli were used to examine whether or not infants of smokers displayed poorer orienting responses for both tasks, reflecting a general information processing deficit, and a significantly greater deficit in response to the auditory stimuli than visual stimuli, reflecting a differential deficit in auditory processing. Performances on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd ed., were also examined to determine if infants of female smokers have a differential deficit in language development relative to their cognitive development. After controlling for social and demographic variables, alcohol consumption, and caffeine intake, maternal smoking was related to poorer language facet scores but higher social facet scores on the BSID-II. Maternal smoking was also associated with poorer orienting responses on auditory habituation trials after controlling for confounding variables. Among economically disadvantaged women, infants of women who smoked demonstrated poorer orienting responses during visual habituation trials than did infants of nonsmokers. The results were discussed in terms of the relative contributions of a general information processing deficit and a specific auditory deficit.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Tiffany, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Developmental psychology|Cellular biology|Obstetrics|Gynecology|Audiology
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