CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN
COGNITION & NEUROSCIENCES/ConnexConnex

Children born prematurely have a high risk of pervasive cerebral and behavioral impairments because they are confronted with multiple risk factors: brain insults, untimely physiological constraints like gravity and respiration, abnormal and noxious stimuli, and parental separation. They have an increased susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders, and even those who are not diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders often suffer from attention and executive deficits, motor deficits, and atypical sensory processing.

Sensory prediction is the ability to anticipate future stimulations based on previous sensory inputs, a core feature of cognitive development. It optimizes cognitive resources and regulates sensory processing through repetition suppression when a stimulus becomes irrelevant, or repetition enhancement to relevant or unexpected stimuli. It also supports motor and posture adaptation. Neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with sensory deficits, and authors proposed that altered sensory prediction may be an early mechanism leading to subsequent motor and cognitive ND symptoms.

I will present studies using optical imaging and EEG, investigating sensory prediction in premature neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit. Results show that prediction is functional before term-equivalent age, associated with top-down regulation of sensory processing based on predictability. This skill is altered by prematurity in a complex manner depending on exposure to the neonatal intensive care environment, suggesting it could help understand early phases of atypical neurodevelopment.