Background Children born preterm may display cognitive, learning, and behaviour difficulties as they grow up. In particular, very premature birth (gestation age between 28 and less than 32 weeks) may put infants at increased risk of intellectual deficits and attention deficit disorder. Evidence suggests that the basis of these problems may lie in difficulties in the development of executive functions. One of the earliest executive functions to emerge around 1 year of age is the ability to control attention. An eye-tracking-based cognitive training programme to support this emerging ability, the Attention Control Training (ACT), has been developed and tested with typically developing infants. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using the ACT with healthy very preterm (VP) infants when they are 12 months of age (corrected age). The ACT has the potential to address the need for supporting emerging cognitive abilities of VP infants with an early intervention, which may capitalise on infants' neural plasticity. Methods/design The feasibility study is designed to investigate whether it is possible to recruit and retain VP infants and their families in a randomised trial that compares attention and social attention of trained infants against those that are exposed to a control procedure. Feasibility issues include the referral/recruitment pathway, attendance, and engagement with testing and training sessions, completion of tasks, retention in the study, acceptability of outcome measures, quality of data collected (particularly, eye-tracking data). The results of the study will inform the development of a larger randomised trial. Discussion Several lines of evidence emphasise the need to support emerging cognitive and learning abilities of preterm infants using early interventions. However, early interventions with preterm infants, and particularly very preterm ones, face difficulties in recruiting and retaining participants. These problems are also augmented by the health vulnerability of this population. This feasibility study will provide the basis for informing the implementation of an early cognitive intervention for very preterm infants. Trial registration Registered Registration ID: NCT03896490. Retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System (clinicaltrials.gov).

中文翻译：

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训练极早产儿的注意力控制：注意力控制训练 (ACT) 可行性研究方案。

背景 早产儿在成长过程中可能会出现认知、学习和行为方面的困难。特别是，极早产（胎龄在 28 周至不到 32 周之间）可能会使婴儿面临智力缺陷和注意力缺陷障碍的风险增加。有证据表明，这些问题的根源可能在于执行功能的发展困难。1 岁左右出现的最早的执行功能之一是控制注意力的能力。已经开发了一种基于眼动追踪的认知训练计划，以支持这种新兴能力，即注意力控制训练 (ACT)，并针对发育正常的婴儿进行了测试。本研究的目的是调查对 12 个月大（校正年龄）的健康极早产 (VP) 婴儿使用 ACT 的可行性。ACT 有可能通过早期干预来满足支持 VP 婴儿新兴认知能力的需求，这可能会利用婴儿的神经可塑性。方法/设计 可行性研究旨在调查是否有可能在一项随机试验中招募和保留 VP 婴儿及其家人，该试验将受过训练的婴儿的注意力和社会关注度与那些暴露于控制程序的婴儿进行比较。可行性问题包括推荐/招募途径、出勤率和参与测试和培训课程、任务的完成、研究的保留、结果测量的可接受性、收集的数据质量（特别是眼动追踪数据）。研究结果将为更大的随机试验的发展提供信息。讨论 几条证据强调需要使用早期干预来支持早产儿的新兴认知和学习能力。然而，对早产儿，尤其是极早产儿的早期干预，在招募和留住参与者方面面临困难。这些问题也因该人群的健康脆弱性而加剧。该可行性研究将为早产儿早期认知干预的实施提供依据。试用注册注册注册ID：NCT03896490。在临床试验方案注册和结果系统 (clinicaltrials.gov) 上进行了回顾性注册。尤其是早产儿，在招募和留住参与者方面面临困难。这些问题也因该人群的健康脆弱性而加剧。该可行性研究将为早产儿早期认知干预的实施提供依据。试用注册注册注册ID：NCT03896490。在临床试验方案注册和结果系统 (clinicaltrials.gov) 上进行了回顾性注册。尤其是早产儿，在招募和留住参与者方面面临困难。这些问题也因该人群的健康脆弱性而加剧。该可行性研究将为早产儿早期认知干预的实施提供依据。试用注册注册注册ID：NCT03896490。在临床试验方案注册和结果系统 (clinicaltrials.gov) 上进行了回顾性注册。NCT03896490。在临床试验方案注册和结果系统 (clinicaltrials.gov) 上进行了回顾性注册。NCT03896490。在临床试验方案注册和结果系统 (clinicaltrials.gov) 上进行了回顾性注册。