VISUAL-EVOKED POTENTIALS AND VISUAL PROCESSING IN STIMULANT DRUG-EXPOSED INFANTS

Prenatal exposure to cocaine and amphetamines has been associated with many adverse effects in infants, including neurological abnormalities . Recent evidence shows that the visual system may be useful in infanc y to evaluate neurological functioning. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs ) and visual recognition memory testing were carried out on eight infa nts with prenatal drug-exposure and eight controls, matched for ethnic ity and socio-economic status. The drug-exposed infants performed sign ificantly worse on the visual recognition test. However, there were no differences between groups on VEP testing and no correlations between tests. The results suggest that the difficulties found in visual reco gnition memory of drug-exposed infants are not related to neurological maturity, as measured by VEPs.