ABSTRACT
This study investigates the relationship between motor function and processing speed in preterm children. Processing speed was compared in 145 adolescents, born 25-41 weeks gestational age, utilizing tasks including differing motor demands. The influence of motor cortex excitability and functional motor skills on task performance was assessed. For tasks with motoric demands, differences in performance between preterm and term-born children were mediated by the relationship between gestational age, corticomotor excitability, and motor function. There were no differences in non-motor processing speed task performance between preterm and term-born children. Measures of processing speed may be confounded by a timed motor component.
Subject(s)
Motor Skills , Neurodevelopmental Disorders/diagnosis , Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation/methods , Adolescent , Child , Female , Gestational Age , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Infant, Premature , MaleABSTRACT
Eight-choice reaction time studies were carried out on women using trichloroethylene (TCE) as an industrial solvent, and simultaneous tests were performed on control subjects. The women exposed to TCE showed an increase in choice reaction time compared with the control subjects. This divergent trend was substantial at a factory where TCE levels exceeded the recommended threshold limit value (TLV). The divergence was less pronounced, but still clearly evident at another factory where TLV was not exceeded.
