Visual Performance and Perceptual–Motor Skills of Late Preterm Children and Healthy Controls Using the TVPS-3rd and VMI-6th Editions

Abstract

Background: The visual system is key to the learning process, preterm births are commonly followed by visual dysfunctions and other neurological conditions. Objective: to measure, analyze and compare the visual efficacy, visual–perceptual, and visual–motor skills of 20 late preterm children (34–36 weeks) born by caesarean section and appropriate weight for gestational age with 20 healthy controls born at full term by natural birth, age 5 to 12 years, from Querétaro, México. Methods: This was an observational, transverse, and prospective study. Parametric and non-parametric tests were performed using the SPSS 25.0. The visual acuity at distance and near, the phoria state, and the degree of stereopsis were analyzed. The Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills, Third Edition, was used to assess the overall performance, basic, sequencing, and complex processes. Fine motor skills were evaluated using the Visual–Motor Integration Test of Beery, Sixth Edition. Results: Visual acuity at distance and near (p<0.001), stereopsis (p<0.001), and the amount of exophoria at distance (p=0.01) showed statistically significant differences between the groups. The overall performance (p=0.006), basic processes (p=0.001), sequencing processes (p=0.02), and General and Motor VMI (p<0.001 and 0.002, respectively) presented lower values in children born preterm. Conclusion: This research showed that even late preterm children present visual deficiencies and are at risk of delays on perceptual–motor skills. Early evaluation of their visual and motor abilities should be considered in order to help improve their cognitive functioning.

Reducing Visuospatial Pseudoneglect in Healthy Subjects by Active Video Gaming

“…This refers to a weak but consistent bias of spatial attention towards the left side of space [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Functional asymmetries in cortical activity have been recently described due to impaired visual input [ 9 , 10 ]; however, there is compelling evidence for primary physiological and functional asymmetries between the left and right hemisphere in attentional control that are lateralised to the right hemisphere, as evidenced by neuroimaging [ 6 ] and non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) studies [ 11 ]. Lesion studies in stroke patients provide clear evidence that spatial neglect, a neurological syndrome characterised by severe attentional deficits, is more common after right hemisphere damage.…”