Selective attention and working memory in young adults born very preterm.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Research has consistently reported that individuals born very preterm (VP; < 32 weeks' gestation) are at increased risk for reduced working memory (WM) performance compared with their term born peers. However, performance on working memory tasks are reliant on several cognitive skills, including selective attention, and the underlying mechanism for poorer working memory following VP birth remains unclear. The current study aimed to assess the impact of selective attention on working memory performance in young adults born VP compared with those born at term, using an experimental task (i.e., visuospatial change detection task).

Method

Participants were 111 young adults born VP (mean age: 20.1 years) and 43 young adults born at term (mean age: 19.9 years). They c

SUBMITTER: Mills T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12266442 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature