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The recently published study demonstrates that lighting up while being pregnant may result in more impulsive temper of their children. According to the study, minors born to mothers who did not give up smoking tend to be more excitable when tested applying a basic behavior examination. The study also showed that children of smoking moms as well exploit distinct areas of the brain when fulfilling the examination in comparison with the children of nonsmoking mothers did not smoke.

The research points out that exposure of fetus to smoke may change brain functions and influence on behavioral changes and mentality processes. The alterations to brain processes were equivalent to those peculiar for underage hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

A group of researchers correlated distinctions in the cerebral behavioral activation patterns of children divided into 2 groups: one group included minors whose mothers smoked and the other group was comprised by the children of non-smoking mothers. During the research, both groups performed an identical behavioral examination named Go/No-Go.

The examination was based on a non-contact cerebral picturing method named functional MRI which is used to identify what regions of the brain were used when performing the examination.

As regards the test itself, the Go/No-Go examination is a rather easy test of the capacity to perform a response to a special signal. During the test, kids were looking on a screen where letters of the alphabet were shown in a random order. Children had to push a button each time they sight any letter (Go task). But, they were asked to avoid pushing the button if the letter “V” is shown (No-Go task).

The task is a lot more complicated than it seems at first sight, since the “V” letter is shown only in 25 percent of the examination; therefore the minors usually are likely to push the button almost every time it is shown. Kids of mothers who used to light up while they were pregnant pushed the button when seeing the letter “V” 30 percent more frequently than those of non-smoking mothers. That finding led the scientist to the assumption that fetal exposure to smoke prompts to a more impulsive behavior.

In addition, the researchers found out the distinctions between the areas of the brains used by members of both groups. The minors who were subjected to prenatal smoke exposure activated more areas of their brains when performing the trial, what is peculiar to less developed brains. This happened even in case the minor reacted properly.

The scientists as well as analyzed the impact of several factors among which were the present exposure to cigarette smoke, mental capacity and the alcohol consumption of the mother while expecting or breastfeeding her child that could have influenced to the alterations discovered. Nevertheless, scientist found out that none of the latter factors had a substantial impact.

The study demonstrates that fetal smoke exposure leads to impulsive temper as this examination estimates response control. Whereas the present research did not point out what element of the cigarette smoke had triggered the alterations, previous findings revealed that namely nicotine bears responsibility for this. Nicotine influences on the brain in numerous ways.

However, one of the significant gaps of this research was the little number of underage participants involved in the examination: 8 in the first group (exposed to cigarette smoke) and 12 in the second group (not exposed to smoke). But scientists stated that their discovery will definitely be the bench mark for future investigations.