Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
Early visual attention in preterm and fullterm infants in relation to cognitive and motor outcomes at school age: an
Marrit M Hitzert1, Koenraad N J A Van Braeckel1, Arend F Bos1
1Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Beatrix Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen , Groningen , Netherlands.
Insights
Early visual development in preterm infants impacts later cognitive and motor skills. This study found slower visual disengagement predicts poorer outcomes, with minimal differences between preterm and fullterm infants.
Area of Science:
- Developmental neuroscience
- Pediatric ophthalmology
- Cognitive psychology
Background:
- Preterm infants experience earlier visual stimulation than fullterm infants.
- The impact of this early visual exposure on long-term development remains under investigation.
- Visual disengagement capacity is a critical early developmental milestone.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between visual disengagement development in the first six months postterm and school-age cognitive and motor outcomes.
- To determine if these associations differ between fullterm and low-risk preterm infants.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal assessment of visual disengagement in 17 fullterms and 10 low-risk preterms over six months postterm using a gaze shifting task.
- Data modeling using S-shaped curves for look frequencies and inverse models for latencies.
- Linear regression analyses correlating infant visual attention variables with school-age neuropsychological outcomes, adjusting for maternal education and birth group, and including an interaction term.
Main Results:
- Slower development of visual disengagement was linked to poorer attention, motor skills, and handwriting performance in both fullterm and preterm infants.
- Marginal differences in predictive relationships were observed for inhibitory attentional control and comprehensive reading between the groups.
Conclusions:
- This study found no clear advantage or disadvantage from increased visual exposure in healthy preterm infants.
- Early visual exposure in low-risk preterm infants appears not to disrupt the development of neural networks during this critical period.
Objective:
Preterm infants are exposed to the visual environment earlier than fullterm infants, but whether early exposure affects later development is unclear. Our aim was to investigate whether the development of visual disengagement capacity during the first 6 months postterm was associated with cognitive and motor outcomes at school age, and whether associations differed between fullterms and low-risk preterms.
Method:
Seventeen fullterms and ten low-risk preterms were tested in a gaze shifting task every 4 weeks until 6 months postterm. The longitudinal data were converted into single continuous variables by fitting the data with an S-shaped curve (frequencies of looks) or an inverse model (latencies of looks). Neuropsychological test results at school age were converted into composite z scores. We then performed linear regression analyses for each functional domain at school age with the variables measuring infant visual attention as separate predictors and adjusting for maternal level of education and group (fullterms versus preterms). We included an interaction term, visual attention*group, to determine whether predictive relations differed between fullterms and preterms.
Results:
A slower development of disengagement predicted poorer performance on attention, motor skills, and handwriting, irrespective of fullterm or preterm birth. Predictive relationships differed marginally between fullterms and preterms for inhibitory attentional control (P = 0.054) and comprehensive reading (P = 0.064).
Conclusion:
This exploratory study yielded no indications of a clear advantage or disadvantage of the extra visual exposure in healthy preterm infants. We tentatively conclude that additional visual exposure does not interfere with the ongoing development of neuronal networks during this vulnerable period of brain development.
