Longitudinal study of infants receiving extra motor stimulation, full‐term control infants, and infants born preterm: High‐density EEG analyses of cortical activity in response to visual motion

Abstract

Electroencephalography was used to investigate the effects of extrastimulation and preterm birth on the development of visual motion perception during early infancy. Infants receiving extra motor stimulation in the form of baby swimming, a traditionally raised control group, and preterm born infants were presented with an optic flow pattern simulating forward and reversed self‐motion and unstructured random visual motion before and after they achieved self‐produced locomotion. Extrastimulated infants started crawling earlier and displayed significantly shorter N2 latencies in response to visual motion than their full‐term and preterm peers. Preterm infants could not differentiate between visual motion conditions, nor did they significantly decrease their latencies with age and locomotor experience. Differences in induced activities were also observed with desynchronized theta‐band activity in all infants, but with more mature synchronized alpha–beta band activity only in extrastimulated infants after they had become mobile. Compared with the other infants, preterm infants showed more widespread desynchronized oscillatory activities at lower frequencies at the age of 1 year (corrected for prematurity). The overall advanced performance of extrastimulated infants was attributed to their enriched motor stimulation. The poorer responses in the preterm infants could be related to impairment of the dorsal visual stream that is specialized in the processing of visual motion.

Effects of Exposure to Formal Aquatic Activities on Babies Younger Than 36 Months: A Systematic Review

“…One study [ 42 ] used EEG to access visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and measure the functional integrity of the visual pathways from the retina to the visual cortex of the brain addressing infants’ motion perception, which is crucial for a successful navigation through the environments. A greater improvement of motion perception was observed in extra-stimulated infants (i.e., infants that participated in swimming programs) when compared with full-term, traditionally raised peers and preterm infants [ 42 ].…”

“…The positive effect on child neurodevelopment reported by Garcia and colleagues in their systematic review [ 17 ] was confirmed for infants younger than 36 months in the present review. Although three studies had already been included in Garcia et al’s review [ 38 , 39 , 48 ], more recent studies confirmed the positive effects of aquatic activities exposure on infants’ development [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 49 ]. Baby swimming programs were associated with improvements in gross, fine, and total motor development [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 43 ] (even when the children are older [ 38 ]); improvement in motion perception [ 42 ]; and a tendency for an improvement in early executive function skills [ 41 ].…”

“…Despite the small sample size, Borioni and colleagues’ study [ 41 ] showed a promising tendency toward intervention-related gains among specific components of executive functioning, suggesting evidence of the benefits of baby swimming on the complex ability to shift between mental sets (cognitive flexibility). Blystad and van der Meer’s results [ 42 ] showed significant gains in motor perception in infants that received extra stimulation through baby swimming. The authors pointed out a close link between self-generated actions and the improvements in the optic flow process, indicating that brain maturation is not the only factor leading to the development of visual motion perception.…”

Perbedaan Tingkat Konsentrasi dalam Penyelesaian Puzzle oleh Anak Usia 3-4 Tahun antara yang Merangkak dan Tidak Merangkak

“…Secara khusus, tahap merangkak dimulai dengan upaya canggung untuk bergerak maju dengan perut menyentuh tanah serta sebagian besar bayi mencapai tonggak perkembangan merangkak dengan tangan dan lutut sekitar 9 bulan dan mulai berjalan sendirian setelah 12 bulan (Xiong et al, 2017). Pada usia 9-10 bulan adalah bahwa bayi harus sudah merangkak setidaknya selama minimal 9 minggu (Meer, 2022). Saat bayi mulai merangkak, kemampuan mereka untuk menjelajahi lingkungan meningkat secara dramatis (Herbert et al, 2007).…”