Executive Functioning, Memory, and Learning in Phenylketonuria

The executive deficit hypothesis of treated phenylketonuria (PKU) suggests that dopaminergic depletion in the lateral prefrontal cortex leads to selective executive impairment. This was examined by comparing adults with PKU on a lifelong diet with a matched healthy control group. Those with PKU were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychology 2004-10, Vol.18 (4), p.613-620
Main Authors: Channon, Shelley, German, Elaine, Cassina, Cristina, Lee, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Analysis of Variance
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Impairment
Cognitive Processing Speed
Dopamine
Female
Human
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Intelligence
Learning
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Mental Recall - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology
Phenylketonuria
Phenylketonurias - physiopathology
Prefrontal Cortex
Problem Solving - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reaction Time
Recognition (Psychology)
Retrospective Studies
Short Term Memory
Statistics as Topic
Verbal Learning - physiology
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Summary:The executive deficit hypothesis of treated phenylketonuria (PKU) suggests that dopaminergic depletion in the lateral prefrontal cortex leads to selective executive impairment. This was examined by comparing adults with PKU on a lifelong diet with a matched healthy control group. Those with PKU were impaired on selective and sustained attention, working memory (Self-Ordered Pointing), and letter fluency. However, they failed to show differential sensitivity to increased cognitive load on the attentional and working memory tasks, and they did not differ significantly on the remaining executive tasks (rule finding, inhibition, and multitasking). Nor did they differ significantly on recall or recognition memory. Overall, the findings provided little support for the executive deficit hypothesis. A possible explanation in terms of slowed information processing speed is explored.
ISSN:0894-4105
1931-1559
DOI:10.1037/0894-4105.18.4.613