Motion perception and biological motion processing in adults born with extremely low birth weight

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Individuals born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) face higher risks for long-term visual perceptual challenges.
• Biological motion processing, crucial for understanding animate movement, is impaired in some preterm infants, but its effects on ELBW adults remain unstudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate biological and scrambled motion processing in adults born ELBW compared to full-term controls.
• To explore the relationship between early neurodevelopmental outcomes and adult motion processing in ELBW individuals.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-eight adults born ELBW and 29 controls completed eye-tracking tasks.
• Tasks assessed biological and scrambled motion detection and interpretation accuracy under varying visual noise conditions.

Main Results:

• The ELBW group demonstrated overall slower detection of both biological and scrambled motion.
• ELBW adults showed lower accuracy in interpreting biological motion, particularly in low-noise conditions.
• Early neurodevelopmental outcomes showed a non-significant trend towards association with adult motion processing.

Conclusions:

• Adults born ELBW exhibit less efficient motion perception compared to controls.
• These findings highlight potential long-term visual perceptual deficits in ELBW individuals beyond childhood.