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Attentional networks efficiency in preterm children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2009

R. PIZZO ,
S. URBEN ,
M. VAN DER LINDEN ,
C. BORRADORI-TOLSA ,
M. FRESCHI ,
M. FORCADA-GUEX ,
P. HÜPPI  and
K. BARISNIKOV
R. PIZZO*
Affiliation:
Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
S. URBEN
Affiliation:
Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
M. VAN DER LINDEN
Affiliation:
Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
C. BORRADORI-TOLSA
Affiliation:
Division of Child Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland
M. FRESCHI
Affiliation:
Division of Child Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland
M. FORCADA-GUEX
Affiliation:
Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
P. HÜPPI
Affiliation:
Division of Child Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland
K. BARISNIKOV
Affiliation:
Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Roxane Pizzo, Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, FPSE, University of Geneva, 40 bd Pont-d’Arve, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Recent studies have reported specific executive and attentional deficits in preterm children. However, the majority of this research has used multidetermined tasks to assess these abilities, and the interpretation of the results lacks an explicit theoretical backdrop to better understand the origin of the difficulties observed. In the present study, we used the Child Attention Network Task (Child ANT; Rueda et al. 2004) to assess the efficiency of the alerting, orienting and executive control networks. We compared the performance of 25 preterm children (gestational age ≤ 32 weeks) to 25 full-term children, all between 5½ and 6½ years of age. Results showed that, as compared to full-term children, preterm children were slower on all conditions of the Child ANT and had a specific deficit in executive control abilities. We also observed a significantly higher correlation between the orienting and executive control networks in the preterm group, suggesting less differentiation of these two networks in this population. (JINS, 2010, 16, 130–137.)

Keywords

Attention networksInhibitionOrientingAlertingPrematurityANT
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 130 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2009

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