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Infants born preterm demonstrate impaired object exploration behaviors throughout infancy and toddlerhood
Michele A Lobo1, Elena Kokkoni2, Andrea Baraldi Cunha3
1M.A. Lobo, PT, PhD, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, 210K STAR, 540 South College Ave, Newark, DE 19713 (USA). malobo@udel.edu.
Insights
Infants born preterm show reduced object exploration and less adaptive behaviors compared to full-term infants. These early differences may impact cognitive development, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neonatal Research
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Object exploration is crucial for infant development.
- Limited understanding exists regarding object exploration in preterm infants.
- Preterm infants may face developmental challenges affecting early learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To longitudinally compare object exploration behaviors in preterm and full-term infants.
- To track these behaviors from infancy through toddlerhood.
- To identify differences in how infants interact with objects based on gestational age.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 22 full-term and 28 preterm infants over 2 years.
- Observation of object interaction (7 objects, 30 seconds each, 9 visits).
- Video coding of behaviors and statistical analysis (growth modeling, t-tests).
Main Results:
- Preterm infants explored objects less in the first 6 months.
- Reduced visual-haptic multimodal exploration observed in preterm infants.
- Preterm infants showed less adaptive behavior matching object properties, correlating with risk severity. Brain-injured preterm infants had impaired bimanual abilities.
Conclusions:
- Preterm infants exhibit impaired object interaction abilities early in life.
- This impairment may hinder knowledge acquisition and early learning.
- There is a need for specialized assessment and intervention tools for preterm infants' object exploration.
Background:
Object exploration behaviors form the foundation for future global development, but little is known about how these behaviors are exhibited by infants born preterm.
Objective:
The study objective was to longitudinally compare a comprehensive set of object exploration behaviors in infants born preterm and infants born full-term from infancy into toddlerhood.
Design:
Twenty-two infants born full-term and 28 infants born preterm were monitored as they interacted with objects throughout their first 2 years.
Methods:
Infants were provided up to 30 seconds to interact with each of 7 objects across 9 visits. Experimenters coded videos of infants' behaviors. Growth modeling and t tests were used to compare how much infants exhibited behaviors and how well they matched their behaviors to the properties of objects.
Results:
Infants born preterm explored objects less in the first 6 months, exhibited less visual-haptic multimodal exploration, displayed reduced variability of exploratory behavior in a manner that reflected severity of risk, and were less able to match their behaviors to the properties of objects in a manner that reflected severity of risk. Infants born preterm with significant brain injury also had impaired bimanual abilities.
Limitations:
There was a limited sample of infants born preterm with significant brain injury.
Conclusions:
Infants born preterm have impaired abilities to interact with objects even in the first months of life. This impairment likely limits the knowledge they acquire about objects and about how they can act on them; this limited knowledge may, in turn, impair their early learning abilities. These results highlight the need for assessment and intervention tools specific for object exploration in young infants.
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