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Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences

Aim: This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9–10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left...

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Autores principales: Assari, Shervin, Boyce, Shanika, Jovanovic, Tanja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8158143/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34070074
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8050411
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author Assari, Shervin
Boyce, Shanika
Jovanovic, Tanja
author_facet Assari, Shervin
Boyce, Shanika
Jovanovic, Tanja
author_sort Assari, Shervin
collection PubMed
description Aim: This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9–10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left hippocampus. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data. This analysis included baseline ABCD data (n = 10,093) of children between ages 9 and 10 years. The predictor variable was right and left hippocampal volume measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The primary outcome, list sorting working memory, was measured using the NIH toolbox measure. Sex was the moderator. Age, race, ethnicity, household income, parental education, and family structure were the covariates. Results: In the overall sample, larger right (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) and left (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) hippocampal volumes were associated with higher children’s working memory. Sex had statistically significant interactions with the right (b = −0.0018; p = 0.001) and left (b = −0.0012; p = 0.022) hippocampal volumes on children’s working memory. These interactions indicated stronger positive associations between right and left hippocampal volume and working memory for females compared to males. Conclusion: While right and left hippocampal volumes are determinants of children’s list sorting working memory, these effects seem to be more salient for female than male children. Research is needed on the role of socialization, sex hormones, and brain functional connectivity as potential mechanisms that may explain the observed sex differences in the role of hippocampal volume as a correlate of working memory.
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spelling pubmed-81581432021-05-28 Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences Assari, Shervin Boyce, Shanika Jovanovic, Tanja Children (Basel) Article Aim: This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9–10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left hippocampus. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data. This analysis included baseline ABCD data (n = 10,093) of children between ages 9 and 10 years. The predictor variable was right and left hippocampal volume measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The primary outcome, list sorting working memory, was measured using the NIH toolbox measure. Sex was the moderator. Age, race, ethnicity, household income, parental education, and family structure were the covariates. Results: In the overall sample, larger right (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) and left (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) hippocampal volumes were associated with higher children’s working memory. Sex had statistically significant interactions with the right (b = −0.0018; p = 0.001) and left (b = −0.0012; p = 0.022) hippocampal volumes on children’s working memory. These interactions indicated stronger positive associations between right and left hippocampal volume and working memory for females compared to males. Conclusion: While right and left hippocampal volumes are determinants of children’s list sorting working memory, these effects seem to be more salient for female than male children. Research is needed on the role of socialization, sex hormones, and brain functional connectivity as potential mechanisms that may explain the observed sex differences in the role of hippocampal volume as a correlate of working memory. MDPI 2021-05-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8158143/ /pubmed/34070074 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8050411 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Assari, Shervin
Boyce, Shanika
Jovanovic, Tanja
Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title_full Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title_fullStr Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title_full_unstemmed Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title_short Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9–10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences
title_sort association between hippocampal volume and working memory in 10,000+ 9–10-year-old children: sex differences
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8158143/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34070074
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8050411
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