The Impact of Motivation on Sustained Attention in Very Preterm and Term-born Children: An ERP Study

Retzler, Jenny; Groom, Madeleine J.; Johnson, Samantha; Cragg, Lucy · 2025 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1177/10870547251313888

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Summary

This study investigates how motivational context influences sustained attention in children born very preterm (VP) compared to term-born controls, using event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess neural mechanisms. The research addresses the need to understand whether motivational incentives can modulate attentional deficits often observed in VP children, who are at higher risk for attention disorders. The study utilized a Continuous Performance Task (CPT-AX) with two variants: a standard condition and a motivating condition designed to enhance engagement. The final analysis included 34 VP children and 34 term-born children, matched on sex, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, though VP children were significantly older and had lower IQ scores. EEG data were recorded from 117 sites and preprocessed using the FASTER algorithm to remove artifacts. ERPs were averaged into clusters across frontal, central, parietal, and occipital regions. The study examined specific ERP components, including P1, P2, P3a, and P3b, during cue orienting and target processing phases. Results indicated that the motivating task significantly altered neural processing compared to the standard task. Specifically, Target-P1diff amplitudes were significantly greater in the motivating task, suggesting enhanced early sensory processing. For Target-P2diff, amplitudes were significantly greater in the motivating task in left central and right frontal clusters, indicating increased activity during stimulus categorization. Target-P3adiff amplitudes were significantly higher in the motivating task in parietal clusters, reflecting improved attention allocation. Notably, while term-born children showed right-lateralized P3a activity, VP children exhibited a more mid-parietal distribution. Age did not significantly moderate these effects. Correlation analyses revealed distinct neural-behavioral links between groups. In VP children, better performance in the standard task correlated with larger P3a and P3b amplitudes, whereas in the motivating task, performance correlated with earlier Target-P2diff components. In term-born children, standard task performance correlated with Orienting-P3bdiff amplitudes, while motivating task performance correlated with early cue processing components (Orienting-P1diff and P2). These findings suggest that motivation enhances attentional engagement in both groups but may rely on different neural mechanisms, with VP children potentially benefiting from enhanced early target processing under motivational conditions. The study highlights the utility of motivational contexts in modulating attentional networks in vulnerable populations.

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