Mental development of children from paired mothers with epilepsy: assessing remote teratogenic effects and predictors of developmental disorders

Objective: to study teratogenic effect – the long-term pregnant mother-taken antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) related consequences on paired child mental, social and intellectual development.Material and methods. There were enrolled 80 subjects: 40 children aged 3–9 years and paired mothers suffering from epilepsy for 3 to 35 years. Thirteen and 27 patients had generalized and focal epilepsy, respectively. Seven mothers were in prolonged remission without taking AEDs, 23 were on monotherapy and 10 were on polytherapy. Child research methods: T. Achenbach's clinical CBCL (The Child Behavior Checklist) scales (for children aged under 5 and 6–18 years), a questionnaire for detecting attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other behavioral disorders modified by N.N. Zavadenko, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), Luria batteries of neuropsychological tests adapted by J.M. Glozman (for children aged 3–6 and 7–12 years).Results. Neuropsychological study and assessment of intelligence revealed problems in the development of praxis, speech, gnostic functions and memory, as well as disproportion in the development of verbal and non-verbal structures of intelligence. The most common behavioral disorders in children were impulsivity, distraction, difficulties in controlling and organizing movements. The most affected spheres were praxis (motor awkwardness, fine motor disorders of the hands) and speech.Conclusion. The proposed hypothesis that the teratogenic effect of taking AEDs may result in unevenness or delay in developing mental functions in a child was confirmed.

Neuropsychological Peculiarities of Studying Future Psychologists’ Emotional Intelligence

The article considers emotional intelligence as a complex integrative formation, which includes cognitive, behavioural and emotional qualities. These qualities ensure awareness, understanding and regulation of their own and others’ emotions and effect on the success of interpersonal interaction and personal development. A review of relevant scientific sources has revealed the insufficient study of brain correlates and the specifics of future psychologists’ emotional intelligence. In turn, it has determined the purpose of the study, that is the neuropsychological study of features of future psychologists’ emotional intelligence. The parameters of emotional intelligence in the first- and second-year students majoring in Specialty 053 Psychology are received due to the test-questionnaire at simultaneous registration of electric activity of the brain. The Neuron-Spectrum 5 electroencephalograph was used for the EEG registration. The recording was performed monopolarly in 32 leads, using samples “eyes closed”, “eyes opened” and filling out the test-questionnaire to identify the levels of emotional intelligence. The obtained results have made it possible to determine that the levels of psychology students’ emotional intelligence are related to the activation indicators of different parts in the cortex of their brain. The students mostly are at average and initial levels of emotional intelligence, tend to show an interpersonal type of emotional intelligence and control their own and others’ emotions rather than to differentiate the emotions and establish the cause of their occurrence.