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Updated: Oct 22, 2025
A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
Published on: July 9, 2016
Visual attention and dietary supplementation in children with perinatal brain injury
Janette Atkinson1, Oliver Braddick2, Christine Montague-Johnson3
1Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Insights
Children with perinatal brain injury experience attention deficits, particularly in sustained attention. Early dietary supplementation may help reduce these visual attention problems.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Perinatal brain injury can lead to long-term neurodevelopmental challenges.
- Visual attention deficits are a common, yet often underestimated, consequence.
- The potential for early interventions to mitigate these deficits requires investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if children with perinatal brain injury exhibit specific visual attention impairments.
- To assess the efficacy of early dietary supplementation in reducing attention deficits.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Infant Fixation Shift Attention Test and Early Childhood Attention Battery (ECAB) subtests.
- Assessed selective, sustained, and executive function components of attention.
- Compared outcomes between a dietary supplementation group and a control group.
Main Results:
- Children with perinatal brain injury showed significant attention impairments across all components.
- Sustained attention was the most severely affected component.
- Dietary supplementation significantly reduced attention deficits in the treatment group.
Conclusions:
- Perinatal brain injury is linked to significant attention impairments beyond general cognitive deficits.
- Sustained attention is particularly vulnerable.
- Early dietary supplementation shows promise in ameliorating attention problems, highlighting the importance of targeted interventions.
Aim:
To investigate whether children with perinatal brain injury have impairments in specific components of visual attention, and whether early dietary supplementation can reduce any deficits.
Method:
Children participating in the Dolphin neonatal trial of dietary supplementation were tested at age 6 months with the Infant Fixation Shift Attention Test, and at 4 to 5 years with four subtests of the Early Childhood Attention Battery (ECAB) assessing different components of attention (selective, sustained, and executive function), and the Fluid Crystallized Intelligence Index of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC-II). From 59 children originally assigned to trial groups, 33 were available for testing at 4 to 5 years (18 treatment group of whom seven, six, and five showed mild, moderate, or severe neonatal brain injury; 15 controls with one, seven, and seven in the neonatal brain injury categories respectively). Given the imbalance in numbers with mild brain injury, analysis of trial group differences is restricted to moderate and severe brain injury severities (n=25).
Results:
Children with perinatal brain injury showed poorer attention across all components relative to age norms (mean standard scores 75-87; p<0.001 for three of the four subtests), with the greatest impairment in sustained attention. These impairments remained when compared with cognitive age assessed using the Fluid Crystallized Intelligence Index. Impairment was reduced in the treatment compared to the control group (p=0.04 for flanker test, p=0.002 for counterpointing, and p=0.027 for the overall ECAB score).
Interpretation:
Perinatal brain injury is associated with later impaired attention, beyond that predicted from any general cognitive disability. Impairment varies across attention components, being most severe for sustained attention. The effects on flanker and counterpointing suggest that dietary supplementation from 0 to 2 years of age may reduce attention problems. Measuring the different components of attention is important when considering assessment and interventions for children with perinatal brain injury.
