Longitudinal Investigation of Visual and Numerical Perception in Preterm and Full-term Infants

Descripción del proyecto

Identificación de los riesgos cognitivos en bebés prematuros

Los nacimientos prematuros afectan a más de uno de cada diez bebés y están relacionados con dificultades en habilidades cognitivas cruciales como la percepción numérica y visual. Sin embargo, existe una importante brecha de conocimientos sobre las asociaciones neuronales y conductuales de dichas habilidades en bebés prematuros y a término. El proyecto PrePER, financiado por las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, tiene como objetivo descubrir las firmas neuronales de las disfunciones cognitivas en bebés prematuros durante su primer año y evaluar el impacto de las interacciones entre progenitores y bebés en la predicción de los retos cognitivos para su segundo año. Mediante el establecimiento de criterios para identificar a los lactantes de riesgo, el equipo de PrePER pretende mejorar los diagnósticos y las intervenciones tempranas, beneficiando a las comunidades científicas, los padres y los profesionales sanitarios. La investigación pionera podría impulsar el apoyo a bebés prematuros.

Objetivo

The number of preterm births is on the rise -now more than 1 in 10 babies- and being born preterm is associated with having difficulties in two very important and related cognitive skills that we rely on daily: numerical and visual perception. However, a knowledge gap exists on neural and behavioural associations of numerical and visual perception in full-term and preterm infants. PrePER aims to uncover the underlying neural signatures of the cognitive dysfunctions that preterm infants might display in the first year of their lives and the role of parent-baby interaction to predict preterm infants that are at risk of developing these cognitive difficulties in the second year of their lives. The purpose is to establish criteria to identify infants (especially preterm) at-risk of having cognitive difficulties in numerical and visual perception. Shedding light on normal and impaired cognitive functions in infancy is an essential stepping stone that will pave the way for early diagnostic tools and interventions that would correct the cognitive dysfunctions more efficiently while the brain is still developing. The activities in PrePER will lead to original and innovative outcomes that are beneficial for four parties: 1) Scientific communities will be interested in the results as the ambitious research objectives address questions that have not been asked before. 2) Parents of preterm infants, health-care providers, and policy makers will be interested in the results as the overall aim is to establish criteria to identify infants at-risk of having cognitive-developmental difficulties in the first year of their lives. 3) The researcher will be accelerating her career progression as the training objectives meet her specific needs. 4) The supervisor will be enlarging her research interest and network as the research objectives include a topic within the researcher’s expertise.