The effect of early deprivation on executive attention in middle childhood
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Background: Children reared in deprived environments, such as institutions for the care of orphaned or abandoned children, are at increased risk for attention and behavior regulation difficulties. This study examined the neurobehavioral correlates of executive attention in post institutionalized (PI) children. Methods: The performance and event‐related potentials (ERPs) of 10‐ and 11‐year‐old internationally adopted PI children on two executive attention tasks, Go/No‐go and Flanker, were compared with two groups: children internationally adopted early from foster care (PF) and nonadopted children (NA). Results: Behavioral measures suggested problems with sustained attention, with PIs performing more poorly on Go trials and not on No‐go trials of the Go/No‐go and made more errors on both congruent and incongruent trials on the Flanker. ERPs suggested differences in inhibitory control and error monitoring, as PIs had smaller N2 amplitude on Go/No‐go and smaller error‐related negativity on Flanker. Conclusions: This pattern of results raises questions regarding the nature of attention difficulties for PI children. The behavioral errors are not specific to executive attention and instead likely reflect difficulties in overall sustained attention. The ERP results are consistent with neural activity related to deficits in inhibitory control (N2) and error monitoring (error‐related negativity). Questions emerge regarding the similarity of attention regulatory difficulties in PIs to those experienced by non‐PI children with ADHD.
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Previous work consistently finds differences in ERN amplitude between children and adolescents exposed to early institutional care and those who have never been institutionalized.
“Previous work consistently finds differences in ERN amplitude between children and adolescents exposed to early institutional care and those who have never been institutionalized (Debnath et al., 2023; Loman et al., 2013; McDermott et al., 2013; TrollerRenfree et al., 2016).”
From Foster care intervention protects cognitive control skills in young adults exposed to institutional rearing (2026) · cites this paper as Loman et al., 2013
The Results (Flanker Event-Related Potentials; page not provided) report a smaller ERN amplitude in post-institutionalized children than in non-adopted children. But the Results (Go/No-go Event-Related Potentials; page not provided) report no group difference in ERN amplitude, so this paper does not support the claim that such differences are consistently found across tasks. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEffects of foster care on the ERN appear to be late-emerging, with no significant group differences between foster care and continued institutional care from middle childhood to age 12 years.
“Effects of foster care on the ERN appear to be late-emerging, with no significant group differences between foster care and continued institutional care from middle childhood to age 12 years (Loman et al., 2013; McDermott et al., 2013; TrollerRenfree et al., 2016).”
From Foster care intervention protects cognitive control skills in young adults exposed to institutional rearing (2026) · cites this paper as Loman et al., 2013
The Results (Go/No-go Event-Related Potentials; page unavailable) report no ERN group differences in a sample with foster-care and post-institutionalized groups. But the Methods (Participants; page unavailable) describe a single assessment at a mean age of 10.9 years, with both groups adopted rather than a foster-care versus continued-institutional-care comparison. The paper does not establish an absence of differences through age 12 or that foster-care effects emerge later. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredChildren raised in institutions exhibit poor performance on tests of working memory, inhibition, planning, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility.
“Children raised in institutions exhibit poor performance on tests of working memory, inhibition, planning, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility(98, 109, 121–127)”
From Neglect as a violation of species-expectant experience: neurodevelopmental consequences (2017) · cites this paper as [125]
Executive function performance is worse in children with more severe and longer lasting deprivation.
“EF performance is worse in children with more severe and longer lasting deprivation.(98, 109, 124, 125)”
From Neglect as a violation of species-expectant experience: neurodevelopmental consequences (2017) · cites this paper as [125]
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- Authors
- Loman, M. M., Johnson, A. E., Westerlund, A., Pollak, S. D., Nelson, C. A., & Gunnar, M. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-08-24
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 37-45
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- PMC
- PMC3519940
- OpenAlex
- W2133066691
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 22.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH068857, R01MH068858, R01MH091363, R01MH061285)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30HD003352, T32HD007151, P30HD018655)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Keywords
- early deprivation, executive attention, sustained attention, inhibitory control, error monitoring, error-related negativity, N2 component, go/no-go task, flanker task, internationally adopted children, foster care, middle childhood
- MeSH terms
- Adoption, Attention, Child, Child, Institutionalized, Evoked Potentials, Female, Foster Home Care, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Psychosocial Deprivation, United States, Child, Orphaned, Executive Function
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