Less efficient elementary visuomotor processes in 7- to 10-year-old preterm-born children without cerebral palsy: an indication of impaired dorsal stream processes

Follow-up studies of preterm children without serious neurological complications have consistently found deficits in visuomotor skills. To determine whether these deficits may be related to impaired elementary visuomotor processes, we investigated movement programming and execution of simple pointing movements in 7- to 10-year-old preterm (<34 weeks g.a. and/or b.w. <1800 g) and full-term children. Such detailed analysis of simple pointing movements provides information on the extent to which processes associated with dorsal and/or cerebellar functions are impaired. Multi-level analysis showed that movement programming and execution were slowed in the 7-, 9-, and 10-year-old preterm groups. This indicates impaired dorsal visual stream functioning in preterm children, but do not rule out impaired cerebellar functioning. At 8 years of age, there were no differences between the two groups in movement execution time. This could have reflected a transition in the development of movement control in the control group, which has been associated in typically developing children with a decrease in motor speed. Interestingly, a similar decrease was not found in the preterm group at 8 years of age.