Early executive function differences in infants born moderate-to-late preterm.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Neonatal Research

Background:

• Individuals born very preterm (<32 weeks gestation) exhibit altered prefrontal cortex development and executive function (EF) skills.
• Moderate-to-late preterm (PT; 32-36 weeks gestation) infants show fewer EF discrepancies, but early cognitive precursors are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether precursor skills to executive function, including complex attention, memory, and inhibition, are altered in moderate-to-late preterm infants at 9 months corrected age.
• To determine if subtle cognitive differences emerge in infancy, potentially influencing later executive function development.

Main Methods:

• Assessed 9-month-old healthy infants born moderate-to-late preterm and full-term peers.
• Utilized habituation procedures to evaluate memory.
• Administered early executive function tasks assessing complex attention, memory, and inhibition.

Main Results:

• Moderate-to-late preterm infants demonstrated poorer memory performance post-habituation compared to full-term infants.
• Lower gestational age was significantly associated with poorer performance on five out of six early executive function tasks.
• Despite normal Bayley scores and no group differences in processing speed, subtle cognitive alterations were observed.

Conclusions:

• Moderate-to-late preterm infants exhibit subtle alterations in cognitive skills, particularly memory and inhibition, by 9 months corrected age.
• These early cognitive differences, linked to gestational age, may predispose individuals to long-term executive function challenges.
• Findings highlight the importance of early detection and intervention for cognitive development in preterm infants.