Cortical anomalies associated with visuospatial processing deficits.
Children born preterm provide a fruitful population for studying structure-function relationships because they often have specific functional deficits in the context of normal neurological status. We selected a group of preterm adolescents with deficits in judgment of line orientation. Despite their very low birth weight, all were neurologically normal with no consistent abnormalities on conventional magnetic resonance imaging. However, voxel-based morphometric analysis of their magnetic resonance imaging scans showed areas of decreased gray matter and increased white matter most prominently in right ventral extrastriate cortex, close to an area previously implicated in the line orientation task. We suggest that these anomalies of cortical architecture relate to impaired performance on the line orientation task.
Isaacs
Elizabeth B
EB
MRC Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, Institute of Child Health, University College, London, United Kingdom. e.isaacs@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Edmonds
Caroline J
CJ
Chong
Wui K
WK
Lucas
Alan
A
Gadian
David G
DG
D000293:Adolescent; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*