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Updated: Feb 11, 2026
P50 Sensory Gating in Infants
Published on: December 26, 2013
The emergence of top-down, sensory prediction during learning in infancy: A comparison of full-term and preterm
Alex M Boldin1, Romin Geiger2, Lauren L Emberson1
1Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
Insights
Prematurity impacts infant brain development, affecting sensory learning. Preterm infants show altered neural activity in the occipital lobe during learning, impacting future visual prediction skills.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Development
Background:
- Prematurity can alter infant developmental trajectories, even without medical complications.
- Previous research indicates prematurity disrupts top-down sensory prediction abilities after learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural changes during the learning process preceding prediction in preterm and full-term infants.
- To understand how prematurity affects cortical modulation during learning.
Main Methods:
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure brain activity.
- Infants (preterm and full-term) participated in learning tasks designed to elicit visual prediction.
Main Results:
- Full-term infants showed modulation across temporal, frontal, and occipital cortical regions during learning.
- Preterm infants exhibited no selective neural changes in the occipital lobe during learning.
- Occipital lobe development trajectories predicted subsequent visual prediction abilities in all infants.
Conclusions:
- Modulation of sensory cortices during learning is linked to the emergence of top-down processing.
- Developmental differences in preterm infants may stem from deficits in top-down processing, particularly in visual prediction.
Abstract:
Prematurity alters developmental trajectories in preterm infants even in the absence of medical complications. Here, we use fNIRS and learning tasks to probe the nature of the developmental differences between preterm and full-term born infants. Our recent work has found that prematurity disrupts the ability to engage in top-down sensory prediction after learning. We now examine the neural changes during the learning that precede prediction. In full-terms, we found modulation of all cortical regions examined during learning (temporal, frontal, and occipital). By contrast, preterm infants had no evidence of neural changes in the occipital lobe selectively. This is striking as the learning task leads to the emergence of visual prediction. Moreover, the shape of individual infants' occipital lobe trajectories (regardless of prematurity) predicts subsequent visual prediction abilities. These results suggest that modulation of sensory cortices during learning is closely related to the emergence of top-down signals and further indicates that developmental differences in premature infants may be associated with deficits in top-down processing.
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