Article

We investigated whether preterm birth affects later visuocognitive function
and, in particular, whether it affects global and configural perceptual
processing differently. METHOD: We compared the performance of 21 healthy preterm
children (8 females, 13 males; mean age 7 y 8 mo, SD 8 mo; mean gestational age
29.3 wks, SD 1.9; mean birthweight 1186.5 g, SD 377.2) with that of a matched
term comparison group (8 females, 13 males; mean age 7 y 11 mo, SD 1 y 1 mo; mean
gestational age >37 wks; mean birthweight >2500 g) in two perceptual tasks
pinpointing differences between local and global and between local and configural
processing. RESULTS: There was no difference between preterm and term children's
global processing, as both groups showed a bias towards global information
(preterm: t[1,20]=2.6, p=0.01; comparison group: t[1,20]=3.0, p=0.01). By
contrast, no such typical pattern of performance was found for configural
processing as, unlike the comparison group (t[1,20]=7.1, p<0.001), preterm
children preferentially relied on local rather than on configural information
(t[1,20]=-15.4, p<0.001). INTERPRETATION: These findings suggest that preterm
birth may have a greater influence on the development of later perceptual skills
than originally envisaged. We discuss the results according to the current and dominant view of the visual system.

Langue : ANGLAIS