OBJECTIVE

To compare the effect of motivational features on sustained attention in children born very preterm and at term.

METHOD

EEG was recorded while 34 8-to-11-year-old children born very preterm and 34 term-born peers completed two variants of a cued continuous performance task (CPT-AX); a standard CPT-AX with basic shape stimuli, and structurally similar variant, with a storyline, familiar characters, and feedback.

RESULTS

Higher hit rates, quicker response times and larger event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes were observed during the motivating, compared with the standard, task. Although groups did not differ in task performance, between-task differences in ERPs associated with orienting were larger in term-born than very preterm children.

CONCLUSION

The findings add to previous evidence of disruption to the brain networks that support salience detection and selective attention in children born preterm. Manipulations that increase intrinsic motivation can promote sustained attention in both term-born and very preterm children.