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Published on: May 15, 2019
Visual orienting and attention deficits in 5- and 10-month-old preterm infants
Shannon Ross-Sheehy1, Sammy Perone2, Kelsi L Macek3
1Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, United States.
Insights
Preterm infants show early visual attention deficits by 5 months, with specific spatial attention challenges emerging by 10 months. These findings highlight the importance of early visual experiences for cognitive development in premature infants.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Premature birth is linked to cognitive deficits in children.
- Early attentional development in preterm infants is not well understood.
- Understanding early deficits is crucial for predicting later outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate early visual attention deficits in preterm infants.
- To examine the developmental trajectory of attention from 5 to 10 months.
- To identify potential links between early attention and postnatal development.
Main Methods:
- Infants (preterm and full-term) were tested at 5 and 10 months.
- The Infant Orienting With Attention task (IOWA) was used.
- Measures included orienting speed and errors.
Main Results:
- Five-month-old preterm infants had slower orienting speed and more errors.
- Ten-month-old preterm infants showed deficits in spatial attention, particularly reflexive orienting and inhibition.
- No dose-response relationship was found between gestational risk and spatial attention.
Conclusions:
- Emergent spatial attention deficits suggest altered postnatal developmental trajectories in preterm infants.
- Postnatal visual experience plays a critical role in attentional development.
- Visual orienting may serve as a sensitive indicator of attentional delays in preterm infants.
Abstract:
Cognitive outcomes for children born prematurely are well characterized, including increased risk for deficits in memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. However, little is known about deficits that appear within the first 12 months, and how these early deficits contribute to later outcomes. To probe for functional deficits in visual attention, preterm and full-term infants were tested at 5 and 10 months with the Infant Orienting With Attention task (IOWA; Ross-Sheehy, Schneegans and Spencer, 2015). 5-month-old preterm infants showed significant deficits in orienting speed and task related error. However, 10-month-old preterm infants showed only selective deficits in spatial attention, particularly reflexive orienting responses, and responses that required some inhibition. These emergent deficits in spatial attention suggest preterm differences may be related to altered postnatal developmental trajectories. Moreover, we found no evidence of a dose-response relation between increased gestational risk and spatial attention. These results highlight the critical role of postnatal visual experience, and suggest that visual orienting may be a sensitive measure of attentional delay. Results reported here both inform current theoretical models of early perceptual/cognitive development, and future intervention efforts.
