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Local and global aspects of biological motion perception in children born at very low birth weight
K E Williamson1, L S Jakobson, D R Saunders
1a Department of Psychology , University of Manitoba , Winnipeg MB , Canada.
Insights
Children born prematurely show deficits in biological motion perception, impacting social cognition. These challenges in processing visual cues may contribute to later social and behavioral difficulties.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Perceptual Psychology
Background:
- Biological motion perception is crucial for social interaction and understanding actions.
- Premature birth, especially at very low birth weight, is associated with various neurodevelopmental challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate biological motion perception in children born prematurely at very low birth weight.
- To explore the relationship between biological motion perception, autistic traits, and cognitive functioning in this population.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 8- to 11-year-old preterm children and matched full-term controls on tasks of biological motion perception.
- Evaluated local motion cue extraction, structure-from-motion processing, action recognition, and person identification.
- Administered measures of autistic-like traits and analyzed correlations with perceptual performance.
Main Results:
- Preterm children demonstrated impairments across all assessed aspects of biological motion perception.
- Performance on different motion perception tasks showed weak intercorrelations, suggesting relative independence.
- Preterm children exhibited more autistic-like traits, which correlated with specific perceptual deficits and abilities.
Conclusions:
- Premature birth at very low birth weight is linked to widespread difficulties in biological motion perception.
- Deficits in social perception and cognition may underlie social and behavioral issues in some preterm children.
- Findings support the need for targeted screening and intervention for social-cognitive development in preterm populations.
Abstract:
Biological motion perception can be assessed using a variety of tasks. In the present study, 8- to 11-year-old children born prematurely at very low birth weight (<1500 g) and matched, full-term controls completed tasks that required the extraction of local motion cues, the ability to perceptually group these cues to extract information about body structure, and the ability to carry out higher order processes required for action recognition and person identification. Preterm children exhibited difficulties in all 4 aspects of biological motion perception. However, intercorrelations between test scores were weak in both full-term and preterm children--a finding that supports the view that these processes are relatively independent. Preterm children also displayed more autistic-like traits than full-term peers. In preterm (but not full-term) children, these traits were negatively correlated with performance in the task requiring structure-from-motion processing, r(30) = -.36, p < .05), but positively correlated with the ability to extract identity, r(30) = .45, p < .05). These findings extend previous reports of vulnerability in systems involved in processing dynamic cues in preterm children and suggest that a core deficit in social perception/cognition may contribute to the development of the social and behavioral difficulties even in members of this population who are functioning within the normal range intellectually. The results could inform the development of screening, diagnostic, and intervention tools.
