BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Cognit.
Sec. Attention
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcogn.2025.1606956
The association between PFAS exposure and attention processing in adolescent boys: a pilot study
Provisionally accepted
- Alabama Life Research Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, IN, United States
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Perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) are a family of chemicals that have been used in industries and on products for decades. Little is known of the neurological effects of PFAS in humans particularly in adolescents which is a critical period of brain development making exposure to environmental toxins during this period even more likely to lead to cognitive deficits. In this pilot study we recruited adolescent boys and performed community data collection of 1) blood samples to measure blood level PFAS; 2) parental assessments of behavior; and 3) electroencephalography (EEG) during the performance of an attention task. We demonstrated the feasibility of community data collection including EEG data collection. The data collected revealed an association between PFAS levels and an EEG measure of attention, the P2 and N2, and parental assessment of attention. Although this is a pilot study, it does indicate the feasibility of conducting the necessary more comprehensive studies examining the neurocognitive effects of exposure to PFAS.
Keywords: PFAS, EEG, Attention, ADHD, Brain
Received: 06 Apr 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Newman and Xiong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sharlene D. Newman, Alabama Life Research Institute, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 47405, IN, United States
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