Atypical neuronal activation during a spatial working memory task in 13-year-old very preterm children

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Children born very preterm (VP; <32 weeks' gestational age) face risks for cognitive deficits, including spatial working memory (WM) impairments.
• The neural underpinnings of these cognitive challenges in VP individuals remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate neurobiological differences in spatial working memory (WM) activation patterns between very preterm (VP) children and term-born controls.
• To differentiate the neural correlates of WM maintenance versus manipulation processes in VP individuals.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activation during a spatial backward span (BS) task versus a control (C) task in 45 VP children and 19 term-born controls at 13 years of age.
• Specific WM processes were isolated: maintenance (forward span [FS] > C) and manipulation (BS > FS).

Main Results:

• VP children exhibited greater activation in the superior frontal gyrus and reduced activation in the parahippocampal gyrus during the overall spatial WM task compared to controls.
• During the manipulation-intensive BS > FS contrast, VP children showed increased activation in the middle frontal gyrus, superior parietal gyrus, and cerebellar tonsil, alongside decreased activation in the precentral/postcentral gyri and insula.
• No significant group differences were observed for the WM maintenance (FS > C) component.

Conclusions:

• Very preterm children demonstrate atypical neuronal activation patterns during spatial working memory at age 13, particularly in tasks requiring information manipulation.
• These findings may indicate delayed neural maturation or the compensatory recruitment of alternative neural networks due to neuroplasticity in VP individuals.