CDN Lab Junior Scientists

Tucked into today's mail, among the regular junk, was an envelope addressed to Aaron from the Cognitive Developmental Neuroimaging Laboratory in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Enclosed was his CDN Lab Junior Scientist Award certificate, along with a letter thanking Aaron for his participation. Aaron was excited when I told him about the afternoon plan after picking him up from preschool on Monday, because he was the only one of our children who hadn't yet been called to participate in research at the U. He eagerly participated in the 2-hour research study designed to to look at executive function, verbal skills, and processing speed in preschool-aged children. While Aaron played games with the researchers, Nolan slept peacefully on my lap under the shade of a magnificent tree in the adjacent park, after we had read our library books.

Executive Function, Verbal Skills, and Processing Speed following Moderate to Late Preterm Birth

"Executive function refers to the brain processes that control goal-oriented activities, such as attention, memory, and self-control. Processing speed refers to how fast your child can perform a relatively automatic cognitive task. There is evidence of difficulties with executive function, verbal skills, and processing speed in children who were born extremely preterm or extremely low birth weight. Delayed or atypical development of executive function has been demonstrated in the extremely preterm population in childhood. This study explores whether children who were born less preterm (approximately 32-36 weeks gestation) have differences in executive function, verbal skills, or processing speed compared to their term (approximately 38-42 week gestation) peers. Children born moderate to late preterm often have more difficulties in the newborn period that resolve prior to nursery discharge. However, some of these problems have the potential to have a lasting impact on the developing brain. The preterm brain undergoes tremendous growth in the final weeks of pregnancy. This growth and development may occur differently after birth out in the world compared to inside of the mother’s body. Brain and behavioral outcomes are among the most important outcome measures of preterm birth. Our goal is to determine if infants born moderate to late preterm are at risk for delayed or abnormal development of executive function, verbal skills, or processing speed. The motivation behind this research is to better understand the cognitive development of former preterm infants in order to better screen for any difficulties and to establish more effective interventions."

From the letter:
"Your child played two computerized games and four tabletop interactive games in this study. The Betsy the Bunny game was a directional Stroop task on the computer that tested inhibitory control and working memory while your child wore the net of sponge-covered electrodes. The Benny the Bee game measured processing speed with the computer. The tabletop games included one opposite game where your child had to resist an impulsive response, two memory games, and one toy sorting game that tested your child's cognitive flexibility." Upon completion, the researchers gave Aaron a book of his choice and a $10 Target gift card to thank him for his participation.

Nolan participated in his second study earlier this year, on Monday, April 18, while Collin and Aaron were at their respective schools.

DUTCH Language Study (26-month-olds)

"We are using this study to help us better understand children's understanding of language. We would like to know if children are able to learn words from a speaker of Dutch and if they transfer those labels to an English speaker. Your child would first play for five minutes with an Dutch speaker or an English speaker while you answered a few questions about your child's vocabulary. Then, your child would play a "game" with either an English speaker or Dutch speaker in which they will be asked to identify objects. After this game, the other speaker will play with your child, and we are interested in whether children will generalize object labels from a speaker of Dutch to a speaker of English." For his participation, Nolan was offered a $5 Target gift card in lieu of another ICD t-shirt.

In the spring of 2010 we received an update from the Cognitive Developmental Neuroimaging Lab regarding Nolan's first ICD study in the fall of 2009 that explored attention and learning. "Researchers examined whether 7-month old infants could learn predictable relationships between pairs of shapes. They found that some infants spent much more time looking at shape pairs that were familiar to them, while other infants showed a preference for the new shape combinations. However, in both cases, the infants could tell the difference between the old and new shape pairs, suggesting that they had successfully learned the original shape combinations. Based on the preliminary results, the study added a new element, a cue that flashes before the shape pairs, which may demonstrate that perceptual information in the environment can have an important effect on both infants' attention and learning."