Preterm Birth Affects Dorsal-Stream Functioning Even after Age 6.

With increasing numbers of preterm infants surviving, the impact of preterm birth on later cognitive development presents a major interest. This study investigates the impact of preterm birth on later dorsal- and ventral-stream functioning. An atypical pattern of performance was found for preterm children relative to full-term controls, but in the dorsal-drawing task only. These findings suggest that the number of gestational weeks does affect dorsal-stream functioning, even after more than 6 years of favorable environmental conditions in healthy preterm children.