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Effects of preterm experience on the developing visual system: a longitudinal study of shifts of attention and gaze
Sabine Hunnius1, Reint H Geuze, Mar J Zweens
1Department of Developmental and Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. s.hunnius@nici.ru.nl
Insights
Healthy preterm infants show advanced visual and attentional development, including faster attention shifting, challenging previous theories about developmental timelines. Early visual experience benefits later-maturing cortical processes.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Preterm infants' visual development may benefit from early visual world exposure.
- Previous research suggested only early sensory/motor processes are enhanced, not later-maturing ones.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if early visual experience accelerates preterm infants' visual and attentional development.
- To determine if early and later maturing processes are affected differently.
Main Methods:
- Examined gaze and attention shifting in preterm and full-term infants during the first six months.
- Utilized a visual attention task assessing stimulus disengagement and shifting.
Main Results:
- Preterm infants were faster at disengaging and shifting attention/gaze until 16 weeks post-term.
- No difference observed in simple gaze shifts without disengagement.
- Findings contrast with theories suggesting only early processes are advanced.
Conclusions:
- Early visual experience appears to accelerate both early and later-maturing visual and attentional processes in preterm infants.
- Accelerated cortical functioning is evident in healthy preterm infants.
- Challenges the notion that later-maturing processes are solely dependent on preprogrammed maturation.
Abstract:
Several studies on visual development support the notion that healthy, low-risk preterm infants benefit from their early exposure to the visual world. It has been suggested, however, that mainly early developing sensory and motor processes are enhanced as a result of visual experience and early exercise, whereas later maturing processes might not. This study investigates whether preterm infants' visual and attentional development is accelerated as a consequence of their early visual experience and whether early and later maturing processes are affected differently. Preterm and full-term infants' performance on a gaze and attention shifting task was examined during the first six months of life. Until about 16 weeks post- term, preterm infants were faster in disengaging and shifting their attention and gaze from a stimulus in their central visual field to the periphery, whereas no difference was found for simple gaze shifts without disengagement. This finding is in contrast to earlier accounts that only early developing mechanisms might be advanced as a result of additional visual experience, whereas later developing cortical processes might depend mainly on preprogrammed maturation processes. However, it is consistent with a number of findings on visual, motor, and speech development, which have indicated accelerated cortical functioning in healthy preterm infants before.
