Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026
A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
Published on: July 9, 2016
Ophthalmological, cognitive, electrophysiological and MRI assessment of visual processing in preterm children without
Michelle O'Reilly1, Brigitte Vollmer, Faraneh Vargha-Khadem
1Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK. m.oreilly@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Insights
Children born preterm without major neurological issues show subtle neurophysiological differences in visual processing. However, overall visual function remains normal, suggesting preterm birth doesn't systematically cause visual dysfunction in this group.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Preterm birth is linked to chronic visual processing deficits.
- It remains unclear if subtle visual processing abnormalities exist in preterm children without major neuromotor impairment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate functional visual processing abnormalities in preterm children without cerebral palsy.
- To compare visual function between preterm and full-term children with normal neurological status.
Main Methods:
- Ophthalmological assessment, cognitive tests (visual-motor, visual-perceptual, visual-spatial), and pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEPs) were used.
- Brain MRI and neuromotor assessments were conducted for all participants.
- A cohort of 12 preterm children (<33 weeks gestation or <1000g birthweight) and 12 full-term controls (8-12 years old) were studied.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were observed in ophthalmological, cognitive, neurological, neuromotor, or MRI measures between groups.
- The P100 component of the PR-VEP demonstrated a significantly shorter latency in preterm children compared to full-term controls.
Conclusions:
- Subtle neurophysiological abnormalities in visual processing may exist in preterm children without major neuromotor impairment.
- Visual dysfunction is not systematically associated with preterm birth when neurological status is normal.
Abstract:
Many studies report chronic deficits in visual processing in children born preterm. We investigated whether functional abnormalities in visual processing exist in children born preterm but without major neuromotor impairment (i.e. cerebral palsy). Twelve such children (< 33 weeks gestation or birthweight < 1000 g) without major neuromotor impairment and 12 born full-term controls were assessed at 8-12 years of age by means of ophthalmological assessment (visual acuity, colour vision, stereopsis, stereoacuity, visual fields, ocular motility, motor fusion), cognitive tests of visual-motor, visual-perceptual and visual-spatial skills and pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEPs). All participants also underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and neuromotor assessments. No significant differences were found between the groups on the ophthalmological, visual cognitive, neurological, neuromotor or MRI measures. The P100 component of the PR-VEP showed a significantly shorter latency in the preterm compared with the full-term participants. Whilst this P100 finding suggests that subtle abnormalities may exist at the neurophysiological level, we conclude that visual dysfunction is not systematically associated with preterm birth in the context of normal neurological status.
