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Adaptive Cognitive Control in Prematurely Born Children: An HD-EEG Investigation
Giovanni Mento1,2, Lisa Toffoli1, Letizia Della Longa3
1Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Insights
Preterm birth impairs cognitive control (CC) adaptation. Children born preterm showed deficits in implicit CC adjustment, evidenced by slower responses and altered brain activity, suggesting a potential marker for neurodevelopmental risks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Preterm birth is a significant risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders, often leading to cognitive control (CC) impairments.
- Implicit associative learning can influence CC, but its adaptability in preterm-born children remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the ability of preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) school-aged children to implicitly adapt cognitive control (CC) based on temporal regularities.
- To explore the neural underpinnings of impaired CC adaptation in preterm children using high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG).
Main Methods:
- Children performed the Dynamic Temporal Prediction (DTP) task to assess implicit CC adaptation and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for explicit CC.
- HD-EEG recorded brain activity during the DTP task to analyze the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and cortical source recruitment.
- Behavioral data (response times, accuracy) and EEG measures were compared between PT and FT groups.
Main Results:
- Preterm children exhibited slower and more premature responses on the DTP task and increased perseverative errors on the WCST compared to full-term children.
- Preterm children demonstrated impaired adaptive CC, characterized by less efficient global response-speed adjustment.
- EEG data revealed reduced and less sensitive anticipatory Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and altered cortical source activity in preterm children.
Conclusions:
- Implicit CC adaptation is compromised in school-aged children born preterm.
- Deficits in implicit CC adjustment and associated neural patterns may serve as an endophenotypic marker for atypical cognitive development following preterm birth.
- These findings highlight the importance of assessing implicit cognitive processes in understanding the long-term effects of preterm birth.
Abstract:
Preterm birth is a neurodevelopmental risk condition often associated with cognitive control (CC) impairment. Recent evidence showed that CC can be implicitly adapted through associative learning. In the present study we investigated the ability to flexibly adjust CC as a function of implicit stimulus-response temporal regularities in preterm (PT; N = 21; mean age 8 ± 1.3 years; gestational age 30 ± 18.5 weeks) and full-term (FT; N = 20; mean age 8 ± 1.3 years) school-age children. All children underwent an HD-EEG recording while undergoing the Dynamic Temporal Prediction (DTP) task, a simple S1-S2 detection task purposely designed to generate local-global temporal predictability of imperative stimuli. The Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) was administered to measure explicit CC. The PT group showed more premature and slower (DTP) as well as perseverative (WCST) responses than the FT group. Moreover, pre-terms showed poor adaptive CC as revealed by less efficient global response-speed adjustment. This behavioral pattern was mirrored by a reduced and less sensitive to global manipulation anticipatory Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and by different cortical source recruitment. These findings suggest that implicit CC may be a reliable endophenotypic marker of atypical cognitive development associated with preterm birth.
