IMPACT OF CHRONIC UNDERNUTRITION ON HIGHER MENTAL FUNCTIONS IN INDIANBOYS AGED 10-12 YEARS

Undernourished rural children 10-12 years of age demonstrated the foll owing, when compared to normal nourished children: (i) a relative defi cit of memory quotients assessed by the Wechsler memory scale; (ii) lo wer scores for abilities related to personal and current information, orientation, mental control, logical memory, digit span, visual reprod uction and associative learning; (iii) impaired set formation and flex ibility in attention as assessed by the card sorting test; and (iv) im pairment in conditional learning on maze and conditional associative l earning tests. The performance on the finger dexterity test for fine m otor coordination was not affected in undernourished children.