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Abstract:
Abstract: Premature delivery interrupts a period of rapid
neural development during gestation. Among the neural systems
likely to be influenced by deviations in early experience are those
underlying recognition memory in the medial temporal lobe. In
contrast, priming appears guided primarily by the physical
maturation of the visual cortex, and thus may be less perturbed by
prematurity. A study examining the relative influence of physical
maturation and experience in premature infants' developing memory
systems is currently underway. This study involves recording
event-related potentials (ERPs) during recognition memory and
priming tasks. Recognition memory is examined by presenting infants
with images of their mother's face and a female stranger's face. We
assess priming by showing infants a series of women's faces, some
of which repeat a single time. Study participants are healthy
premature infants born at 31-33 weeks gestation. These infants are
tested at 4-months corrected age and compared to full term 4- and
6-month olds. Thus far we have observed a pattern of reduced
discrimination between mother and stranger for the premature
infants relative to both 4-month and 6-month controls on the
recognition memory task. In contrast to our predictions, premature
infants in the priming task are showing altered patterns of brain
activity in response to novel and primed faces.
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