Preterm Birth and Social Cognition

Plain-language summary

The study aims at investigating social cognition outcomes of children born prematurely. Social cognition can be briefly defined as a process which underlines people's social and emotional behaviors. There are behavioral and cognitive evidences indicating that preterm children have executive dysfunctions. Executive functions refer to multiple cognitive processes that contribute to human higher order abilities, such as purposeful and future-orientated behavior. The literature regarding development of term born children indicates that executive functions are linked to the emergence of social cognition. Then, the investigators asked if children born prematurely, as they commonly present executive dysfunctions, would show an atypical development of social cognition. Additionally, as it has been shown that parental anxiety is a key factor of preterm children development, the investigators assumed that it should play a role in social cognition outcomes.

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Trial details