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Attention development in infants and preschool children born preterm: a review
Eva van de Weijer-Bergsma1, Lex Wijnroks, Marian J Jongmans
1Langeveld Institute for the Study of Education and Development in Childhood and Adolescence, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. e.vandeweijer@uu.nl
Insights
Children born preterm show less optimal attention development, impacting later cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Early attention differences in preterm infants widen by toddlerhood, influenced by biological and environmental factors.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Preterm birth is associated with increased risk for cognitive and behavioral issues.
- Attention, involving orienting, shifting, and maintaining focus, is crucial for development and relies on brain attentional networks.
- Understanding attention development in preterm children is vital for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review literature on attention development in preterm children during the first four years of life.
- To explore differences in attention between preterm and full-term children.
- To examine factors influencing attention variations within the preterm population.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on attention development in preterm infants and toddlers.
- Comparative analysis of attention in preterm versus full-term children.
- Investigation of biological and environmental influences on attention in preterm populations.
Main Results:
- Infants born preterm exhibit less optimal early attention development compared to full-term infants.
- Attention differences between preterm and full-term children tend to increase from infancy to toddlerhood.
- Individual differences in early orienting and sustained attention predict later attentional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning in preterm children.
Conclusions:
- Early attention deficits in preterm children are a significant concern for later development.
- Both biological and environmental factors play a role in attention development trajectories for preterm children.
- Long-term follow-up studies focusing on individual attention trajectories (orienting, sustained, executive) are essential for preterm populations.
Abstract:
A potential mechanism that can explain preterm children's heightened risk for the development of later cognitive and behavioral problems is attention. Attention is the ability of an infant or child to orient to, to shift between and to maintain focus on events, objects, tasks, and problems in the external world, processes which are all dependent on the functioning of attentional networks in the brain. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the literature on attention development in children born preterm during the first 4 years of life. First, research examining the differences between preterm and full-term children indicates that early attention development in infants born preterm is less optimal and that these differences increase when infants grow into toddlers. Second, studies investigating individual differences within preterm populations reveal the influence of both biological factors and environmental factors. Third, individual differences in early orienting and sustained attention have been shown to be predictive of later attentional, cognitive and behavioral functioning in children born preterm. The importance of long-term follow-up studies, with a focus on individual developmental trajectories in orienting, sustained and executive attention, is emphasized.
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