Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) often have deficits associated with multisensory processing. Because ethanol disrupts activity-dependent neuronal plasticity, a process that is essential for refining connections during cortical development, we hypothesize that early alcohol exposure results in alterations in multisensory cortical networks, which could explain the multisensory processing deficits seen in FASD. Here, we use a gyrencephalic animal model to test the prediction that early alcohol exposure alters the functional connectivity and microstructural features of a visual-tactile integrative area with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging.
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