Time, number and attention in very low birth weight children.
Premature birth has been associated with damage in many regions of the cerebral cortex, although there is a particularly strong susceptibility for damage within the parieto-occipital lobes (Volpe, 2009). As these areas have been shown to be critical for both visual attention and magnitudes perception (time, space, and number), it is important to investigate the impact of prematurity on both the magnitude and attentional systems, particularly for children without overt white matter injuries, where the lack of obvious injury may cause their difficulties to remain unnoticed. In this study, we investigated the ability to judge time intervals (visual, audio and audio-visual temporal bisection), discriminate between numerical quantities (numerosity comparison), map numbers onto space (numberline task) and to maintain visuo-spatial attention (multiple-object-tracking) in school-age preterm children (N29). The results show that various parietal functions may be more or less robust to prematurity-related difficulties, with strong impairments found on time estimation and attentional task, while numerical discrimination or mapping tasks remained relatively unimpaired. Thus while our study generally supports the hypothesis of a dorsal stream vulnerability in children born preterm relative to other cortical locations, it further suggests that particular cognitive processes, as highlighted by performance on different tasks, are far more susceptible than others.
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy.
Francesca
F
Tinelli
Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Giovanni
G
Anobile
Robotics, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.
Monica
M
Gori
Department of Psychology, Ludwings-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
David
D
Aagten-Murphy
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy.
Mariaelisa
M
Bartoli
Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: dave@in.cnr.it.
David C
DC
Burr
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy; Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
Giovanni
G
Cioni
Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy; Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Italy.
Maria
M
Concetta Morrone
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
Approximate number system; Attention; Numerical cognition; Numerosity perception; Preterm children; Time perception