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Updated: Jul 5, 2026
P50 Sensory Gating in Infants
Published on: December 26, 2013
The neural basis of response inhibition and attention allocation as mediated by gestational age
Emma J Lawrence1, Katya Rubia, Robin M Murray
1Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom. e.lawrence@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Insights
Very preterm birth is linked to lasting attention and inhibitory control issues in adults. Functional MRI reveals distinct brain activation patterns in preterm-born adults, suggesting developmental delays in these cognitive functions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Very preterm birth (before 33 weeks) is associated with behavioral and attentional difficulties in children and adolescents.
- Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies indicate altered brain activation in preterm-born adolescents during inhibitory control tasks.
- It remains unclear if these functional brain alterations persist into adulthood or represent developmental delays.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate persistent functional brain differences in adults born very preterm compared to controls.
- To examine brain activation patterns related to inhibitory control and attention allocation in very preterm-born adults.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an event-related fMRI Go/No-Go motor response inhibition paradigm with an oddball task.
- Compared blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals between 26 very preterm-born adults and 21 typically developing adults.
- Analyzed group differences in brain activation during motor response inhibition and attention allocation tasks.
Main Results:
- Preterm-born adults showed increased BOLD signal in posterior brain regions (e.g., middle temporal/occipital gyrus, posterior cingulate, precuneus) during motor response inhibition.
- During attention allocation (oddball task), preterm-born adults exhibited reduced brain activation in fronto-parietal-cerebellar networks.
- Observed group differences in activation within both inhibition and attention networks.
Conclusions:
- Very preterm birth is associated with adult alterations in inhibitory control and attention processing.
- The observed brain activation patterns suggest potential developmental delays in cognitive functions following very preterm birth.
- Findings highlight the long-term neurological impact of extremely premature birth on executive functions.
Abstract:
Children and adolescents born before 33 weeks of gestation, that is very preterm, may experience problems with the inhibitory control of behaviour and the allocation of attention. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found preterm-born adolescents to display altered brain activation in tasks measuring inhibitory control. However, adolescence is a period during which dynamic changes are occurring in the brain, and it is not yet known whether these functional alterations will persist into adulthood, or instead reflect developmental delay. This study used an event-related fMRI Go/No-Go motor response inhibition paradigm, which included an oddball task measuring attention allocation to infrequent stimuli, to compare blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal between 26 preterm-born adults and 21 controls. Group differences in brain activation were observed in inhibition and attention networks during both conditions. During motor response inhibition, preterm-born participants compared to controls showed increased BOLD signal in medial and right lateral posterior brain regions, including middle temporal/occipital gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus. During oddball trials, preterm-born young adults displayed attenuated brain activation in a fronto-parietal-cerebellar network which is involved in mediating attention allocation. This pattern of reduced brain activation in task-relevant regions of attention allocation, and increased activation in posterior brain regions during inhibitory control, suggests adult alteration of inhibition and attention processing following very preterm birth, which may reflect a developmental delay.
