title: Early childhood development of visual texture segregation in full-term and preterm children.
abstract: To date, very little is known about the normal development trajectory of visual texture segregation, or how it is affected by preterm birth. The goal of this study was to characterize the development of visual texture segregation using texture segregation visual evoked potentials (tsVEPs) in children born full-term and children born preterm without major neurological impairment. Forty-five full-term and 43 preterm children were tested at either 12, 24 or 36 months of age (corrected age for prematurity at 12 and 24 months old). VEPs were obtained using two lower-level stimuli defined by orientation (oriVEP) and two higher-level stimuli defined by texture (texVEP). TsVEP was obtained by dividing by two the subtraction of oriVEP from texVEP. Results show a clear maturation of the processes underlying visual texture segregation in the full-term group, with a significant N2 latency reduction between 12 and 36 months of age for all conditions. Significant N2 amplitude reduction was observed for oriVEP between 12 and 24 months, as well as for texVEP between 12 and 24 months, and 12 and 36 months. Comparison between full-term and preterm children indicated significantly lower N2 amplitude for the preterm group at 12 months for oriVEP and texVEP. These differences were no longer apparent at 24 months of age, suggesting that children born preterm catch up with their full-term counterparts somewhere between 12 and 24 months of age. Our results appear to reflect a maturational delay in preterm children in both lower-level and higher-level visual processing during, at least, early childhood.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Mélissa Sue
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sayeur
authors.affiliation: Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Phetsamone
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vannasing
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lefrançois
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lepore
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Maryse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lassonde
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McKerral
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Neuropsychology and Cognition, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Research Centre, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address: anne.gallagher@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D047929:Term Birth; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Childhood; Electroencephalogram (EEG); Higher-level visual processing; Preterm birth; Visual development; Visual evoked potentials (VEPs)