Schedule of Events | Symposia

Investigating the Development of Attention Networks in Preterm Infants at Preschool Age

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Florian Ph.S Fischmeister¹ (florian.fischmeister@meduniwien.ac.at), Nadine Pointner¹, Sophie Weinmüller², Galatee Reme¹, Alfredo Spagna¹, Vito Giordano¹, Karin Pichler¹, Gregor Kasprian¹, Kathrin Kollndorfer; ¹Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ²Columbia University, New York, NY

Attention is an essential neuropsychological component crucial for effective cognitive functioning. According to Posner and Petersen (1990), attention comprises three distinct instances: the alerting network, which represents changes in the internal state; the orienting network, which is involved in selecting information; and the executive control network, which monitors conflicting information. These networks develop during infancy and are related to individual self-regulation differences. Here, we present data that evaluates these networks at a neuronal and behavioral level for both term-born and very preterm-born children at preschool age. Preschoolers (19 term/ 10 preterm, mean age 5.7y) underwent a comprehensive assessment that included clinical, behavioral, and socio-demographic evaluations. Functional images were acquired for a resting condition and a child-friendly version of the Attentional Network Test for Interaction. Task- and rest-based data were preprocessed using age-specific templates and then modeled using fixed-effect modeling. At a behavioral level, preterm and term-born performed equally, with only marginal differences. fMRI results indicate that all three attention networks are consistently found across both groups. Contrary to the behavioral data, a marked difference in specific networks within preterm-born children was observed. While the executive control network revealed increased activation in prefrontal regions, indicating a higher demand for cognitive resources in preterm, the alerting network showed the opposite pattern. This study is one of the first to show that aspects of attention are independent and linked to separate brain regions in preschoolers. Variations observed may indicate differences in processing style and/or developmental levels within subcomponents of the attention network.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Development & aging