title: Oculomotor assessments of executive function in preterm children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use objective, nonverbal oculomotor tasks to assess executive function and infer the neural basis of impairments in preterm children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study of preterm children age 9-16 years (n = 69; mean gestational age 29 weeks) and full-term controls (n = 43). Tasks assessed sensorimotor function (reflexive prosaccades); resistance to peripheral distracters (fixation); response inhibition, response preparation, and execution of a voluntary saccade (antisaccades); and spatial working memory (memory-guided saccades). Group differences were analyzed using ANOVA. We used linear regression to analyze the contributions of age, sex, gestational age, and white matter category to task performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preterm children did not differ from controls on basic sensorimotor function, response inhibition, and working memory. Compared with controls, preterm children showed greater susceptibility to peripheral distracters (P = .008) and were slower to initiate an inhibitory response (P = .003). Regression models showed contributions of age and white matter category to task performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preterm children show intact basic sensorimotor function and demonstrate difficulties in processes underlying executive control, including increased distractibility and prolonged response preparation. These limitations may reflect specific neural abnormalities in fronto-subcortical executive control of behavior.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Irene M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Loe
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Luna
authors.forename: Ian O
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Bledsoe
authors.forename: Kristen W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Yeom
authors.forename: Barbara L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.forename: Heidi M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Feldman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis