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Social attribution skills of children born preterm at very low birth weight

Kathryn E Williamson1, Lorna S Jakobson1

  • 1University of Manitoba.

Development and Psychopathology
|June 11, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Children born prematurely with very low birth weight show impaired social attribution skills. They struggle to infer mental states from movement, particularly those with autistic-like traits.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • Children born prematurely at very low birth weight (<1500 g) face higher risks of social functioning impairments, including autism spectrum disorders.
  • Social attribution, the ability to infer mental states from behavior, is crucial for social functioning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate social attribution skills in preterm children using the Happé-Frith animated triangles task.
  • To compare social attribution abilities between preterm children and full-term controls.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the Happé-Frith animated triangles task to assess social attribution.
  • Recruited 34 preterm children and 36 full-term controls (aged 8-11 years), matched for key demographic and cognitive variables.

Main Results:

  • Preterm children demonstrated less appropriate overall descriptions of animations compared to controls.
  • Preterm children overattributed intentionality to random movements and underattributed it to social interactions.
  • Impaired mental state inference was most pronounced in preterm children with autistic-like traits.

Conclusions:

  • Preterm children exhibit deficits in social attribution skills, potentially linked to atypical social brain development or connectivity.
  • These findings highlight the impact of prematurity on social cognition and may inform interventions for affected children.

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