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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Early risk, attention, and brain activation in adolescents born preterm
Dennis P Carmody1, Margaret Bendersky, Stanley M Dunn
1University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0019, USA.
Insights
Early life medical and environmental risks impact adolescent brain activation patterns. Preterm-born teens showed less mature brain responses during attention tasks, affecting cognitive performance.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- Adolescence is a critical period for brain development.
- Early life risks can impact neurodevelopmental trajectories.
- Understanding these impacts is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between early cumulative risk (medical and environmental) and brain activation in preterm-born adolescents.
- To examine how attentional control and brain activation patterns are associated with performance on cognitive tasks.
- To identify specific neural correlates of medical and environmental risks.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activation during an attention task.
- Participants were 15-16-year-old adolescents born preterm.
- Statistical analyses examined correlations between cumulative risk, attentional control, and brain activation patterns.
Main Results:
- Greater activation in the left superior-temporal and left supramarginal gyri was linked to better attentional task performance.
- Early medical risk correlated with activation in the left parietal cortex.
- Early environmental risk correlated with activation in the temporal lobe.
Conclusions:
- Early cumulative risk is associated with less mature patterns of brain activation in preterm-born adolescents.
- These altered activation patterns may reflect reduced processing efficiency.
- Findings highlight the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of early life adversity.
Abstract:
The relations among early cumulative medical risk, cumulative environmental risk, attentional control, and brain activation were assessed in 15-16-year-old adolescents who were born preterm. Functional magnetic resonance imaging found frontal, temporal, and parietal cortex activation during an attention task with greater activation of the left superior-temporal and left supramarginal gyri associated with better performance. Individual differences in early cumulative risk are related to patterns of brain activation such that medical risk is related to left parietal cortex activation and environmental risk is related to temporal lobe activation. The findings suggest that early risk is related to less mature patterns of brain activation, including reduced efficiency of processing and responding to stimuli.
