Study is among the first to quantify how exposure to lead influences memory in children in a way that can be used in both human and animal models
A study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai shows that exposure to lead during pregnancy and early childhood may accelerate the rate at which children forget information—a critical marker of memory impairment that may have implications for learning and development.
Using delayed matching-to-sample task (DMTS)—a cognitive task that can be used to evaluate underlying neurobehavioral functions, such as attention and working memory, and has been demonstrated to be sensitive to metal neurotoxicants—the study examined how both prenatal and early childhood blood lead levels affect working memory in children ages 6 to 8. In this task, the children were presented a picture, and then had to select that same picture from three choices presented after a brief delay. The study was published in Science Advances on July 9, 2025.
Feature in the News