Some children are more self-sufficient than others, depending on how long they are in the uterus. In particular, the likelihood of physical and psychological illness in premature babies is increased. Regarding cognitive impairment, it has been shown that premature babies are different from their executive functions. Furthermore, motor skills deficits after premature birth can affect executive function given the interrelationship between cognitive and motor development.
In a new study, researchers Dr. Sebastian Ludyga, Uwe Pühse, Professor Markus Gerber, Dr. Manuel Mücke, Dr. Mark Brotzmann, Professor Peter Weber of the University of Basel collaborates with Dr. Sakari Lemola of Bielefeld University ; Dr. Andrea Capone Mori, from Kantsspital Aarau Clinic, investigated the association between birth and response inhibition of very premature birth and behavioral and neurophysiological indicators and aspects of physical health in this association. In particular, children aged 9-13 who are instructing to complete the visual GO/NO-GO task press the button when giving the GO signal, but inhibit their motion response. Their research is published in the Journal Developmental cognitive neuroscience.
The current case-control study of Dr. Ludyga and colleagues concluded that premature children with less than 32 weeks of pregnancy were impaired in response inhibition compared with children over 37 weeks of pregnancy. The group applied several tasks to measure motor skills and cardiorespiratory health, and then conducted visual cognitive tests to examine behavioral and neurophysiological correlations of response inhibition. During the experiment, the researchers used an electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor specific brain activity parameters to examine the inhibition of the inhibitory ability to exercise response.
Dr. Ludyga’s team tested the participants’ overall motor skills in terms of physical health. They found that the larger the deficit of motor skills, the more limited the inhibition reaction, the premature birth will be. Similarly, only motor skills influenced the association between premature birth, behavioral performance, and neurophysiological indicators of response inhibition. “This first suggests that interventions should target such skills to reduce the deficit associated with premature birth to curbs,” said lead author Dr. Ludyga.
Another important finding of this study is that cardiopulmonary adaptation does not mediate the association between very premature birth and reduced response inhibition of neurophysiological indicators compared to motor skills. In this case, motor skills support rather than cardiorespiratory health will help prevent impaired cognitive control processes in early birth.
In summary, premature infants have impaired inhibition compared with premature children, opposite to children of the same age born in the previous semester. “At the neurocognitive level, it can be evident that reduces participation in the assessment process by focusing on the evaluation process, thereby guiding the subsequent selection of appropriate motor responses or their inhibitory effects. Motor skills mediate very premature births versus cognitive control The association between behavioral and neurocognitive impairment,” said Dr. Ludyga.
Journal Reference and Major Image Credit:
Ludyga, Sebastian, UwePühse, Markus Gerber, Manuel Mücke, Sakari Lemola, Andrea Capone Mori, Mark Brotzmann and Peter Weber. “Very premature birth and cognitive control: a mediating role of motor skills and physical health.” Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 49 (2021): 100956. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100956
About the Author
Dr. Sebastian Ludyga
Dr. Sebastian Ludyga is a senior fellow in the Department of Sports, Sports and Health, University of Basel (Switzerland). His research focuses on the effect of exercise on neurocognition in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. He has extensive experience in neuroimaging techniques and their application in the study of mechanisms of cognitive benefits induced by exercise. He is a member of the European Sports Science Council and joins the Editorial Committee of Biopsychology. Dr. Ludyga received his master’s degree from the University of Otto-Von-Guericke Magdeburg (Germany) and Ph.D. From Martin-Luther University Harley Wettenberg (Germany) Sports Science
