Social cognition in individuals born preterm

Abstract

Faces hold a substantial value for effective social interactions and sharing. Covering faces with masks, due to COVID-19 regulations, may lead to difficulties in using social signals, in particular, in individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. Daily-life social participation of individuals who were born preterm is of immense importance for their quality of life. Here we examined face tuning in individuals (aged 12.79 ± 1.89 years) who were born preterm and exhibited signs of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), a dominant form of brain injury in preterm birth survivors. For assessing the face sensitivity in this population, we implemented a recently developed experimental tool, a set of Face-n-Food images bordering on the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The key benefit of these images is that single components do not trigger face processing. Although a coarse face schema is thought to be hardwired in the brain, former preterms exhibit substantial shortages in the face tuning not only compared with typically developing controls but also with individuals with autistic spectrum disorders. The lack of correlations between the face sensitivity and other cognitive abilities indicates that these deficits are domain-specific. This underscores impact of preterm birth sequelae for social functioning at large. Comparison of the findings with data in individuals with other neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions provides novel insights into the origins of deficient face processing.

Face pareidolia in male schizophrenia

“…In other words, face tuning is not simply lower in any mental disorder. On the same wavelength, cross-disease research in individuals with ASD 85 , Down syndrome 86 , Williams syndrome 83 , and in adolescents born prematurely 88 reveals substantial (though rather specific for every single condition) deficits in face tuning. These deficits are characterized by dissimilar condition-specific dynamics 88 , 89 , which sheds light upon their possible origins.…”

“…In contrast, patients are reported either to identify fewer face-like images as faces 80 or exhibit higher face pareidolia scores 81 . By presenting Face-n-Food images slightly bordering on Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s portraits (consisting of genius face-resembling food compositions 82 – 88 ) in ascending order from the least to most face resembling, higher face thresholds were found in SZ 89 .…”

Emotional Regulation Interventions on Developmental Course for Preterm Children: A Systematic Review of Randomized Control Trials

“…However, this issue with reduced connectivity decreases at 8 years, indicating a dynamic period of brain network development. The affected areas are the amygdala and the frontal regions, in particular the superior frontal gyrus and between the orbital frontal cortex and the anterior cingulate [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Other volumetric alterations have been found in samples of preterm infants in infancy and adolescence with changes in both white and gray matter [ 17 ]: reduced volume of the fusiform gyrus [ 26 , 27 ], thalamus [ 19 ], insula [ 26 ] and hippocampus [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Multimodal classification of extremely preterm and term adolescents using the fusiform gyrus: A machine learning approach

“…Specific deficits in face memory have also been found in PT infants ( Perez-Roche et al, 2017 ). This profile persists through childhood and into adulthood, where individuals born PT tend to process visual stimuli by focusing on features in isolation (local configuration) rather than tending to relate individual features to the rest of the scene (holistic approach) ( Mathewson et al, 2020 , Pavlova et al, 2021 , Santos et al, 2010 ). Local configural processing is associated with poorer performance IQ, which may suggest a deficit in perceptual processing ( Mathewson et al, 2020 ).…”