In contrast to our findings for familial risk effects, prenatal exposure to alcohol was associated with lower gray matter volume in right middle cingulum, right anterior cingulum, left middle temporal regions, and lobes 4 and 5 of the cerebellum. Our finding of reduction of gray matter volume in middle cingulum region is consistent with a previous report showing an effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on the cingulum (Moore et al., 2014). The present study also found a significant prenatal exposure effect for the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) region based on the VBM analysis. These results are consistent with Eckstrand et al., (2012) who showed dose dependent effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and reduction of gray matter volume of right MTG among children who had heavy prenatal exposure to alcohol.
