Carbajal-Valenzuela Cintli Carolina, Santiago-Rodríguez Efraín, Quirarte Gina L, Harmony Thalía
1 Unidad de Investigación en Neurodesarrollo "Dr Augusto Fernández Guardiola" Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Juriquilla, Querétaro, México.
2 Departamento de Neurobiología Conductual y Cognitiva, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico.
Clin EEG Neurosci. 2017 Mar;48(2):88-95. doi: 10.1177/1550059416647904. Epub 2016 Jul 10.
The rate of premature births has increased in the past 2 decades. Ten percent of premature birth survivors develop motor impairment, but almost half exhibit later sensorial, cognitive, and emotional disabilities attributed to white matter injury and decreased volume of neuronal structures. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that premature and full-term infants differ in their development of emotional face processing. A comparative longitudinal study was conducted in premature and full-term infants at 4 and 8 months of age. The absolute power of the electroencephalogram was analyzed in both groups during 5 conditions of an emotional face processing task: positive, negative, neutral faces, non-face, and rest. Differences between the conditions of the task at 4 months were limited to rest versus non-rest comparisons in both groups. Eight-month-old term infants had increases ( P ≤ .05) in absolute power in the left occipital region at the frequency of 10.1 Hz and in the right occipital region at 3.5, 12.8, and 16.0 Hz when shown a positive face in comparison with a neutral face. They also showed increases in absolute power in the left occipital region at 1.9 Hz and in the right occipital region at 2.3 and 3.5 Hz with positive compared to non-face stimuli. In contrast, positive, negative, and neutral faces elicited the same responses in premature infants. In conclusion, our study provides electrophysiological evidence that emotional face processing develops differently in premature than in full-term infants, suggesting that premature birth alters mechanisms of brain development, such as the myelination process, and consequently affects complex cognitive functions.
在过去20年中，早产率有所上升。10%的早产幸存者会出现运动障碍，但几乎一半的人后来会出现感觉、认知和情感障碍，这归因于白质损伤和神经元结构体积减小。本研究的目的是检验以下假设：早产和足月婴儿在情感面部加工发展方面存在差异。对早产和足月婴儿在4个月和8个月时进行了一项比较纵向研究。在情感面部加工任务的5种条件下（正面、负面、中性面孔、非面孔和休息），对两组婴儿的脑电图绝对功率进行了分析。4个月时，两组任务条件之间的差异仅限于休息与非休息的比较。与中性面孔相比，8个月大的足月婴儿在看到正面面孔时，左枕叶区域在10.1Hz频率处的绝对功率增加（P≤0.05），右枕叶区域在3.5Hz、12.8Hz和16.0Hz频率处的绝对功率增加。与非面孔刺激相比，正面刺激时，他们左枕叶区域在1.9Hz频率处的绝对功率增加，右枕叶区域在2.3Hz和3.5Hz频率处的绝对功率增加。相比之下，正面、负面和中性面孔在早产婴儿中引发的反应相同。总之，我们的研究提供了电生理证据，表明早产婴儿与足月婴儿在情感面部加工发展方面存在差异，这表明早产会改变大脑发育机制，如髓鞘形成过程，从而影响复杂的认知功能。
