Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jan 10;12(1):3. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-04194-8.
There is growing evidence that preterm children are at an increased risk of poor executive functioning, which underlies behavioural and attention problems. Previous studies have suggested that early cognitive flexibility is a possible predictor of later executive function; however, how it develops in infancy and relates to the later neurobehavioural outcomes is still unclear in the preterm population. Here, we conducted a longitudinal study to investigate oculomotor response shifting in 27 preterm and 25 term infants at 12 months and its relationship with general cognitive development and effortful control, which is a temperamental aspect closely associated with executive function, at 18 months. We found that moderate to late preterm and term infants significantly inhibited previously rewarded look responses, while very preterm infants did not show significant inhibition of perseverative looking at 12 months. Moreover, lower inhibition of perseverative looking was significantly associated with lower general cognitive development and attentional shifting at 18 months. These findings suggest that the early atypical patterns of oculomotor response shifting may be a behavioural marker for predicting a higher risk of negative neurobehavioural outcomes, including attention-related problems in preterm children.
越来越多的证据表明，早产儿执行功能较差的风险增加，而执行功能是行为和注意力问题的基础。先前的研究表明，早期认知灵活性可能是后期执行功能的一个预测因素；然而，在早产儿群体中，其在婴儿期的发展情况以及与后期神经行为结果的关系尚不清楚。在这里，我们进行了一项纵向研究，以调查 27 名早产儿和 25 名足月婴儿在 12 个月时的眼球运动反应转移情况，以及其与一般认知发展和努力控制的关系，后者是与执行功能密切相关的气质方面，在 18 个月时进行了研究。我们发现，中度至晚期早产儿和足月婴儿显著抑制了先前有奖励的注视反应，而非常早产儿在 12 个月时没有表现出明显的持续注视抑制。此外，持续注视抑制程度较低与 18 个月时的一般认知发展和注意力转移程度较低显著相关。这些发现表明，眼球运动反应转移的早期异常模式可能是预测早产儿负面神经行为结果（包括与注意力相关的问题）风险较高的行为标志物。
