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Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
Published on: June 30, 2014
Brain structure and function in the fourth decade of life after extremely low birth weight: An MRI and EEG study
Karen J Mathewson1, Elliott A Beaton2, Diana Hobbs3
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Insights
Adults born extremely low birth weight (ELBW) show reduced brain function and cognitive performance. Increased white matter hypointensities (WMH) in ELBW survivors may explain these long-term effects.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤ 1000 g) affects neurodevelopment.
- Long-term cognitive and brain structure outcomes in ELBW survivors require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine long-term effects of ELBW on adult brain structure, function, and cognitive-behavioral performance.
- To investigate the relationship between white matter hypointensities (WMH) and neurocognitive outcomes in ELBW survivors.
Main Methods:
- Compared brain MRI, resting EEG, and face-processing task performance in ELBW survivors and normal birth weight (NBW) adults in their early thirties.
- Assessed visual discrimination accuracy, EEG alpha power, and long-distance alpha coherence.
- Quantified WMH volumes.
Main Results:
- ELBW survivors exhibited lower visual discrimination accuracy, reduced resting EEG alpha power, and decreased long-distance alpha coherence compared to NBW adults.
- ELBW survivors had higher WMH volumes.
- Face-processing performance correlated positively with EEG spectral power and coherence, and negatively with WMH; associations were partly mediated by WMH.
Conclusions:
- WMH burden, greater in ELBW adults, may negatively impact electrocortical activity, brain functional connectivity, and higher-order processing.
- Increased WMH volumes may partly explain decrements in electrocortical activity and behavioral performance in adult ELBW survivors.
Objective:
To examine potential long-term effects of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤ 1000 g) on adult brain structure, brain function, and cognitive-behavioral performance.
Methods:
A subset of survivors from the prospectively-followed McMaster ELBW Cohort (n = 23, MBW = 816 g) and their peers born at normal birth weight (NBW; ≥ 2500 g; n = 14, MBW = 3361 g) provided T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, resting electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings, and behavioral responses to a face-processing task in their early thirties.
Results:
Visual discrimination accuracy for human faces, resting EEG alpha power, and long-distance alpha coherence were lower in ELBW survivors than NBW adults, and volumes of white matter hypointensities (WMH) were higher. Across groups, face-processing performance was correlated positively with posterior EEG spectral power and long-distance alpha and theta coherence, and negatively with WMH. The associations between face-processing scores and parietal alpha power and theta coherence were reduced after adjustment for WMH.
Conclusions:
Electrocortical activity, brain functional connectivity, and higher-order processing ability may be negatively affected by WMH burden, which is greater in adults born extremely preterm.
Significance:
Decrements in electrocortical activity and behavioral performance in adult ELBW survivors may be partly explained by increased WMH volumes in this vulnerable population.
