Abstract
Impairments in visual perception are among the most common developmental difficulties related to being born prematurely, and they are often accompanied by problems in other developmental domains. Neural activation in participants born prematurely and full-term during tasks that assess several areas of visual perception has not been studied. To better understand the neural substrates of the visual perceptual impairments, we compared behavioral performance and brain activations during visual perception tasks in adolescents born very preterm (birth weight ≤1500 g or gestational age <32 weeks) and full-term. Tasks assessing visual closure, discrimination of a deviating figure, and discrimination of figure and ground from the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Third Edition were performed by participants born very preterm (n = 37) and full-term (n = 34) at 12 years of age during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Behavioral performance in the visual perception tasks did not differ between the groups. However, during the visual closure task, brain activation was significantly stronger in the group born very preterm in a number of areas including the frontal, anterior cingulate, temporal, and posterior medial parietal/cingulate cortices, as well as in parts of the cerebellum, thalamus, and caudate nucleus. Differing activations during the visual closure task potentially reflect a compensatory neural process related to premature birth or lesser neural efficiency or may be a result of the use of compensatory behavioral strategies in the study group born very preterm.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.