Parietal thickness predicts middle temporal area (V5) motion responses in 7-year-old children born very preterm

Source: PubMed Central Open Access, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine

Abstract Very preterm birth has been associated with altered brain development and impaired global motion processing within the dorsal visual stream. We explored whether cortical thickness in occipital and parietal regions predicted global motion processing in 7-year-old children born very preterm. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures were successfully computed for 99 children, motion coherence thresholds were evaluated in 85 participants and functional MRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) percent signal change in the primary visual cortex (V1) and/or middle temporal area (V5) was quantifiable in 23 participants. Parietal cortical thickness predicted V5 BOLD response to 100% coherent motion stimuli, where individuals with thinner parietal cortices had stronger V5 BOLD responses to coherent motion. These findings indicate that parietal thickness may serve as a structural indicator of dorsal stream development in children born very preterm and provide a structural basis for understanding individual differences in global motion processing.