Neurobehavioral evidence for working-memory deficits in school-aged children with histories of prematurity.
Cognitive performance in 7- to 9-year-old preterm neonatal intensive-care survivors was compared with that in age-matched control children. Non-verbal memory span, spatial working-memory abilities, planning, set-shifting, and recognition memory for both spatial and patterned stimuli were assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery. Relative to children in the control group, neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) survivors demonstrated 25% more memory errors on the spatial working-memory task. Their use of strategy on this task was similar to a control group of 5-year-olds. Planning times on 'Tower of London' problems were long relative to those of term controls. NICU survivors demonstrated poorer pattern recognition as well as a shorter spatial memory span. The groups did not differ in visual-discrimination learning or in spatial-recognition memory. No specific neonatal risk factor accounted for the observed differences, although scores on the Neurobiological Risk Score (NBRS), a composite measure of neonatal risk, did predict several aspects of later task performance. Whether these data reflect a developmental delay in brain maturation in NICU survivors or the presence of a permanent information-processing deficit due to adverse neonatal events must be assessed through continued follow-up.
Luciana
M
M
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, USA. lucia003@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Lindeke
L
L
Georgieff
M
M
Mills
M
M
Nelson
C A
CA
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology