A longitudinal study of visual attention and psychomotor development in preterm and full-term infants during the first six months of life

Abstract

Developmental changes in measures of visual attention and psychomotor development were studied in 34 healthy preterm and 36 full-term infants. They were assessed with infant-control habituation and recognition memory procedures, as well as with the Bayley Scales (1969), at 2, 4, and 6 months (corrected age for preterms). The development of visual attention measures in preterms did not differ from that of full-terms. Duration measures and magnitude of habituation decreased with age, and proportion of exposure time in the recognition memory procedure increased with age. Novelty scores in both procedures did not change across ages. Preterms' uncorrected, but not corrected, mental and motor scores were lower than full-terms' scores. At conceptional age, on specific measures of visual attention and psychomotor development, healthy preterm infants do not appear to be impaired by their premature birth during the first six months of life.