Within the last decade, many investigators have focused on the physical,neurodevelopmental, and neuropsychological effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on infants andyoung children. Although inconclusive on many crucial issues, published studies reveal thebeginnings of a profile of possible cocaine-related effects on neuropsychological functionssubserving arousal and attention regulation. That profile is informed by preclinical studies inwhich important factors such as duration and type of exposure as well as environmentalconditions may be more adequately controlled. In the developing brain, there are a number ofcandidate mechanisms that account for how prenatal cocaine exposure may interfere with neuralontogeny. This review focuses on the monoamine system, one of the primary sites of action ofcocaine in the adult. In the developing organism, monoamines play critical trophic roles throughall phases of central nervous system (CNS) ontogeny—cell proliferation, neural migration,growth, maturation, and synaptogenesis. Because of their trophic role in CNS ontogeny, cocaineeffects on developing nervous system may be mediated in part through effects on monoaminesystem ontogeny. In turn, these effects may be expressed behaviorally in disrupted patterns ofarousal and attention regulation given that these domains are connected intimately tomonoaminergic systems.