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Updated: Dec 9, 2025
Studying Brain Function in Children Using Magnetoencephalography
Published on: April 8, 2019
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Visual Perception Tasks in Adolescents Born Prematurely
Annika Lind1,2, Leena Haataja3, Marja Laasonen4,5,6
1Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Insights
Adolescents born very preterm showed similar visual perception skills but different brain activation patterns compared to full-term peers. Increased activation in certain brain regions during visual closure tasks may indicate compensatory mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Visual perception impairments are common in individuals born prematurely, often co-occurring with other developmental issues.
- Neural activation patterns during visual perception tasks in preterm-born individuals are not well understood.
- This study investigates the neural underpinnings of visual perceptual differences in adolescents born very preterm.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare behavioral performance and brain activation during visual perception tasks in adolescents born very preterm and full-term.
- To identify neural substrates associated with visual perceptual differences in very preterm-born individuals.
- To explore potential compensatory mechanisms in the brains of very preterm-born adolescents.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity.
- Participants included adolescents born very preterm (n=37) and full-term (n=34) at 12 years of age.
- Tasks included visual closure, and discrimination of deviating figures and figure-ground from the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Third Edition.
Main Results:
- Behavioral performance on visual perception tasks was comparable between the very preterm and full-term groups.
- During the visual closure task, significantly stronger brain activation was observed in the very preterm group.
- Increased activation in the very preterm group was noted in frontal, cingulate, temporal, parietal cortices, cerebellum, thalamus, and caudate nucleus.
Conclusions:
- Despite similar behavioral performance, differing brain activation patterns exist in very preterm-born adolescents during visual closure.
- These activation differences may represent compensatory neural processes or reduced neural efficiency.
- Compensatory behavioral strategies might also contribute to the observed neural activation patterns in the very preterm group.
Objectives:
Impairments in visual perception are among the most common developmental difficulties related to being born prematurely, and they are often accompanied by problems in other developmental domains. Neural activation in participants born prematurely and full-term during tasks that assess several areas of visual perception has not been studied. To better understand the neural substrates of the visual perceptual impairments, we compared behavioral performance and brain activations during visual perception tasks in adolescents born very preterm (birth weight ≤1500 g or gestational age <32 weeks) and full-term.
Methods:
Tasks assessing visual closure, discrimination of a deviating figure, and discrimination of figure and ground from the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Third Edition were performed by participants born very preterm (n = 37) and full-term (n = 34) at 12 years of age during functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Results:
Behavioral performance in the visual perception tasks did not differ between the groups. However, during the visual closure task, brain activation was significantly stronger in the group born very preterm in a number of areas including the frontal, anterior cingulate, temporal, and posterior medial parietal/cingulate cortices, as well as in parts of the cerebellum, thalamus, and caudate nucleus.
Conclusions:
Differing activations during the visual closure task potentially reflect a compensatory neural process related to premature birth or lesser neural efficiency or may be a result of the use of compensatory behavioral strategies in the study group born very preterm.
