University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Social, Statistical and Environmental Sciences Unit, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Early Hum Dev. 2020 Aug;147:105083. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105083. Epub 2020 May 23.
The study was designed to investigate whether attainment of object permanence, a measure of early working memory used at 18-22 months corrected age, was associated with executive function at 6-7 years in a cohort of children born extremely preterm.
Children enrolled in the Neuroimaging and Neurodevelopmental Outcome (NEURO) study, a secondary study to the Surfactant Positive Airway Pressure and Pulse Oximetry Trial (SUPPORT) of the NICHD NRN, were eligible for this longitudinal study. Testing completed at 18 to 22 months corrected age was compared to testing at school age with a specific focus on measures of executive function.
Children who had achieved object permanence mastery at a corrected age of 18-22 months had higher mean scores on the WISC-IV tests of verbal comprehension and processing speed at age 6-7 years. Regression models indicated that object permanence scores were significant predictors of both verbal comprehension and processing speeds scores, after controlling for other factors. When analyzed by subgroup for sex, these results were significant for girls but not for boys.
This study found that an early mastery of object permanence was associated with higher scores in areas of verbal comprehension and processing speed in girls. These results have implications for potentially identifying young children born preterm that are at greater risk for difficulties with cognitive and working memory skills at school age.
本研究旨在探讨在极早产儿队列中，18-22 个月校正年龄时获得客体永久性（一种用于测量早期工作记忆的方法）是否与 6-7 岁时的执行功能相关。
参加神经影像学和神经发育结局（NEURO）研究的儿童有资格参加这项纵向研究，该研究是美国国立卫生研究院儿童健康与人类发育研究所（NICHD）NRN 表面活性物质正压通气和脉搏血氧饱和度试验（SUPPORT）的一项次级研究。在 18 至 22 个月的校正年龄时进行的测试与在学龄时进行的测试进行了比较，特别关注执行功能的测量。
在 18-22 个月的校正年龄时获得客体永久性掌握的儿童在 6-7 岁时的 WISC-IV 言语理解和处理速度测试中得分较高。回归模型表明，在控制其他因素后，客体永久性分数是言语理解和处理速度分数的显著预测因素。按性别进行亚组分析时，这些结果在女孩中显著，但在男孩中不显著。
这项研究发现，早期掌握客体永久性与女孩言语理解和处理速度方面的较高分数相关。这些结果可能有助于确定早产儿在儿童早期认知和工作记忆技能方面存在更大风险的儿童。
