Several studies on visual development support the notion that healthy, low-risk preterm infants benefit from their early exposure to the visual world. It has been suggested, however, that mainly early developing sensory and motor processes are enhanced as a result of visual experience and early exercise, whereas later maturing processes might not. This study investigates whether preterm infants' visual and attentional development is accelerated as a consequence of their early visual experience and whether early and later maturing processes are affected differently. Preterm and full-term infants' performance on a gaze and attention shifting task was examined during the first six months of life. Until about 16 weeks post- term, preterm infants were faster in disengaging and shifting their attention and gaze from a stimulus in their central visual field to the periphery, whereas no difference was found for simple gaze shifts without disengagement. This finding is in contrast to earlier accounts that only early developing mechanisms might be advanced as a result of additional visual experience, whereas later developing cortical processes might depend mainly on preprogrammed maturation processes. However, it is consistent with a number of findings on visual, motor, and speech development, which have indicated accelerated cortical functioning in healthy preterm infants before.

中文翻译：

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早产经验对视觉系统发育的影响：婴儿早期注意力和视线转移的纵向研究

几项关于视觉发育的研究支持这样一种观点，即健康、低风险的早产儿从早期接触视觉世界中受益。然而，有人提出，主要是早期发展的感觉和运动过程由于视觉体验和早期锻炼而得到增强，而后期成熟的过程可能不会。本研究调查早产儿的视觉和注意力发育是否因早期视觉体验而加速，以及早熟和晚熟过程是否受到不同影响。在生命的前六个月检查了早产儿和足月儿在凝视和注意力转移任务中的表现。直到产后约 16 周，早产儿在脱离和将注意力和凝视从中央视野的刺激转移到外围方面的速度更快，而没有脱离的简单凝视转移没有发现差异。这一发现与早期的观点形成对比，即只有早期发展机制可能会因额外的视觉体验而得到推进，而后期发展的皮质过程可能主要取决于预编程的成熟过程。然而，它与视觉、运动和语言发育方面的许多发现一致，这些发现以前表明健康早产儿的皮层功能加速。这一发现与早期的观点形成对比，即只有早期发展机制可能会因额外的视觉体验而得到推进，而后期发展的皮质过程可能主要取决于预编程的成熟过程。然而，它与视觉、运动和语言发育方面的许多发现一致，这些发现以前表明健康早产儿的皮层功能加速。这一发现与早期的观点形成对比，即只有早期发展机制可能会因额外的视觉体验而得到改善，而后期发展的皮质过程可能主要取决于预编程的成熟过程。然而，它与视觉、运动和语言发育方面的许多发现一致，这些发现以前表明健康早产儿的皮层功能加速。