Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Visual Perception Tasks in Adolescents Born Prematurely

Abstract

Objectives: Impairments in visual perception are among the most common developmental difficulties related to being born prematurely, and they are often accompanied by problems in other developmental domains. Neural activation in participants born prematurely and full-term during tasks that assess several areas of visual perception has not been studied. To better understand the neural substrates of the visual perceptual impairments, we compared behavioral performance and brain activations during visual perception tasks in adolescents born very preterm (birth weight ≤1500 g or gestational age <32 weeks) and full-term. Methods: Tasks assessing visual closure, discrimination of a deviating figure, and discrimination of figure and ground from the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Third Edition were performed by participants born very preterm (n = 37) and full-term (n = 34) at 12 years of age during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Behavioral performance in the visual perception tasks did not differ between the groups. However, during the visual closure task, brain activation was significantly stronger in the group born very preterm in a number of areas including the frontal, anterior cingulate, temporal, and posterior medial parietal/cingulate cortices, as well as in parts of the cerebellum, thalamus, and caudate nucleus. Conclusions: Differing activations during the visual closure task potentially reflect a compensatory neural process related to premature birth or lesser neural efficiency or may be a result of the use of compensatory behavioral strategies in the study group born very preterm.

Performance in Hand Coordination Tasks and Concurrent Functional MRI Findings in 13-Year-Olds Born Very Preterm

“…Each MRI experiment, performed on 3T Philips Ingenuity TF PET/MR (Philips, Amsterdam, Netherlands), started with structural scans: T1-weighted scan in sagittal planes with 8.1ms Repetition Time (TR), 3.7ms Echo Time (TE), and isotropic 1 mm voxel; T2-weighted set of axial slices with 4.82s TR, 80ms TE, and 3 mm slice thickness; a Coronal Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery sagittal images with 10 s TR, 2.8s Inversion Time, TE of 125ms, and slice thickness of 4mm. The structural MRI findings were categorized as described by Lind et al (16). All structural magnetic resonance images were assessed by an experienced neuroradiologist (RP) who was J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f blinded to the clinical and imaging data of the adolescents.…”