Specificity of The Executive Functions in the Premature Babies. Review of the Foreign Sources

Abstract

The article provides an overview of foreign studies conducted over the past 30 years on the topic of identifying the specifics of executive functions in premature babies. The contradictions in the conclusions of various authors about the differences in verbal and spatial memory in full-term and premature babies have been identified. The results of a meta-analysis of the deficit of executive functions in premature infants at different age periods are presented. The biological, ecological, socio-economic factors of the cognitive problems of prematurely born children, considered in various studies, are considered. The data on the consequences of birth at different stages of gestation in preschool, primary school, adolescence, adolescence and adulthood are analyzed. A review of foreign sources indicates that in premature babies, compared with full-term babies, the level of formation of executive functions is largely determined by the quality of nursing and care of people raising a child, their level of education and maturity. The effect of prematurity on executive function is most likely a subject-specific rather than a global factor; they can be trained and improved at different ages

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