Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces
Abstract Background Despite advancements in neonatal care, premature infants remain at increased risk for cognitive and socio-emotional difficulties, collectively referred to as the preterm behavioral phenotype. A particular aspect of this phenotype is atypical social orienting, characterized by red...
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BMC
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Molecular Autism |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00672-2 |
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| author | Rowena Van den Broeck Lisa Gistelinck Sofie Vettori Ward Deferm Silke Vos Bieke Bollen Gunnar Naulaers Els Ortibus Bart Boets |
| author_facet | Rowena Van den Broeck Lisa Gistelinck Sofie Vettori Ward Deferm Silke Vos Bieke Bollen Gunnar Naulaers Els Ortibus Bart Boets |
| author_sort | Rowena Van den Broeck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Despite advancements in neonatal care, premature infants remain at increased risk for cognitive and socio-emotional difficulties, collectively referred to as the preterm behavioral phenotype. A particular aspect of this phenotype is atypical social orienting, characterized by reduced attention towards socially relevant information, similar to what has been reported for autism spectrum disorder. Methods We monitored a cohort of prematurely born children from birth. At five years of age, we administered a series of frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG) paradigms to investigate their neural sensitivity to social cues, i.e., sensitivity for faces and voices. Frequency-tagging EEG utilizes fast periodic stimulation to elicit synchronized brain responses measurable in the frequency domain. In the preterm (N = 66) and in a matched full-term control group (N = 32), we applied two multi-input frequency-tagging EEG paradigms, simultaneously presenting streams of social and non-social stimuli, each tagged at different presentation rates. In the visual domain, we presented streams of faces and houses. In the auditory domain, we presented streams of voices and object sounds. We used linear mixed models to investigate the effects of group and stimulus type. Results All children showed an implicit social bias towards faces and voices. Compared to full-term peers, preterm preschoolers showed intact neural tuning to faces, but diminished neural tuning to voices, in particular in the speech-sensitive 3.70 Hz frequency band. Limitations The preterm group was highly heterogeneous in terms of gestational age and consisted of healthy preterm preschoolers. Moreover, the used paradigms are artificial and may not fully capture neural tuning in naturalistic social interactions. Conclusions The diminished neural response to voices in the preterm children may potentially reflect the effects of atypical auditory exposure and premature visual exposure in the NICU environment or altered social experiences early in life. These findings contribute to our understanding of the socio-emotional and communicative development in preterm populations and may aid in identifying children at risk for psychopathology or subclinical socio-emotional difficulties. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-632132fd2dcc40d18f40b1cb35a0f38d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2040-2392 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecular Autism |
| spelling | doaj-art-632132fd2dcc40d18f40b1cb35a0f38d2025-08-20T03:05:29ZengBMCMolecular Autism2040-23922025-07-0116111510.1186/s13229-025-00672-2Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not facesRowena Van den Broeck0Lisa Gistelinck1Sofie Vettori2Ward Deferm3Silke Vos4Bieke Bollen5Gunnar Naulaers6Els Ortibus7Bart Boets8Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU LeuvenCenter for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU LeuvenInstitut Des Sciences Cognitives—Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU LeuvenCenter for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU LeuvenNeonatology, UZ LeuvenNeonatology, UZ LeuvenLocomotor and Neurological Disorders, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU LeuvenCenter for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU LeuvenAbstract Background Despite advancements in neonatal care, premature infants remain at increased risk for cognitive and socio-emotional difficulties, collectively referred to as the preterm behavioral phenotype. A particular aspect of this phenotype is atypical social orienting, characterized by reduced attention towards socially relevant information, similar to what has been reported for autism spectrum disorder. Methods We monitored a cohort of prematurely born children from birth. At five years of age, we administered a series of frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG) paradigms to investigate their neural sensitivity to social cues, i.e., sensitivity for faces and voices. Frequency-tagging EEG utilizes fast periodic stimulation to elicit synchronized brain responses measurable in the frequency domain. In the preterm (N = 66) and in a matched full-term control group (N = 32), we applied two multi-input frequency-tagging EEG paradigms, simultaneously presenting streams of social and non-social stimuli, each tagged at different presentation rates. In the visual domain, we presented streams of faces and houses. In the auditory domain, we presented streams of voices and object sounds. We used linear mixed models to investigate the effects of group and stimulus type. Results All children showed an implicit social bias towards faces and voices. Compared to full-term peers, preterm preschoolers showed intact neural tuning to faces, but diminished neural tuning to voices, in particular in the speech-sensitive 3.70 Hz frequency band. Limitations The preterm group was highly heterogeneous in terms of gestational age and consisted of healthy preterm preschoolers. Moreover, the used paradigms are artificial and may not fully capture neural tuning in naturalistic social interactions. Conclusions The diminished neural response to voices in the preterm children may potentially reflect the effects of atypical auditory exposure and premature visual exposure in the NICU environment or altered social experiences early in life. These findings contribute to our understanding of the socio-emotional and communicative development in preterm populations and may aid in identifying children at risk for psychopathology or subclinical socio-emotional difficulties.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00672-2PretermPreschoolersEEGFrequency-taggingVoicesFaces |
| spellingShingle | Rowena Van den Broeck Lisa Gistelinck Sofie Vettori Ward Deferm Silke Vos Bieke Bollen Gunnar Naulaers Els Ortibus Bart Boets Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces Molecular Autism Preterm Preschoolers EEG Frequency-tagging Voices Faces |
| title | Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces |
| title_full | Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces |
| title_fullStr | Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces |
| title_short | Social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers: a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices, not faces |
| title_sort | social orienting in prematurely born preschoolers a case control study showing altered neural tuning towards voices not faces |
| topic | Preterm Preschoolers EEG Frequency-tagging Voices Faces |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00672-2 |
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