Continuity in cognitive abilities from infancy to 12 years of age

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the nature of the continuity between a measure of duration of fixation at infancy and later cognitive competence. Sixty-seven 12-year-olds, born preterm and followed from birth, were tested with measures of information processing, sustained attention, and capacity to use relevant and irrelevant novel information. As hypothesized, short fixation durations were predictive of accuracy on a speeded information processing task requiring focused attention and were unrelated to sustained attention at 12 years. Neonates who fixated visual stimuli briefly were also more successful at adolescence on verbal analogies in which novel information was irrelevant than those who as neonates looked for long durations at unchanging visual stimuli. Intelligence at age 12 was a function of the characteristics of the infant and of the caregiving environment considered jointly.

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