Executive functions assessment in very preterm children at school age: A pilot study about a clinical and experimental approach.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_33A7433DE934
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Executive functions assessment in very preterm children at school age: A pilot study about a clinical and experimental approach.
Journal
Applied neuropsychology. Child
Author(s)
Décaillet M., Denervaud S., Huguenin-Virchaux C., Besuchet L., Bickle-Graz M., Fischer-Fumeaux C.J., Schneider J.
ISSN
2162-2973 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
2162-2965
Publication state
Published
Issued date
28/11/2023
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Pages
1-12
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: aheadofprint
Abstract
While the survival rate of very preterm (VPT) infants has increased in the last decades, they are still at risk of developing long-term neurodevelopmental impairments, especially regarding self-regulatory abilities, and goal-directed behaviors. These skills rely on executive functions (EFs), an umbrella term encompassing the core capacities for inhibition, shifting, and working memory. Existing comprehensive tests are time-consuming and therefore not suitable for all pediatric neuropsychological assessments. The Flanker task is an experimental computer game having the advantage to last less than ten minutes while giving multiple EFs measures. Here, we tested the potency of this task in thirty-one VPT children aged 8-10 years during their clinical assessment. First, we found that VPT children performed in the norm for most clinical tests (i.e., WISC-V, BRIEF, and NEPSY) except for the CPT-3 where they were slower with more omission errors, which could indicate inattentiveness. Second, some Flanker task scores were correlated with standardized clinical testing without resisting to multiple comparisons correction. Finally, compared to full-term children, VPT children showed poorer performance in global EFs measure and lower accuracy in the Flanker task. These findings suggest that this child-friendly version of the Flanker task demonstrated a reasonable sensitivity in capturing EFs with good discrimination between VPT and term children despite VPT children's mild difficulties. It may represent a promising tool for neuropsychological assessments and be suitable as a screening test, providing further validating larger studies. Moreover, while VPT schoolchildren globally display normal intelligence, subtle difficulties that seem to relate to EFs are observed.
Keywords
Cognitive development, executive functions, flanker task, neuropsychological tests, very preterm birth
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
01/12/2023 11:49
Last modification date
25/04/2024 7:00
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