Individual differences in developmental trajectories of A-not-B performance in infants born preterm.

Because early executive functioning is a potentially important predictor of developmental delay and learning difficulties in infants born preterm, this study assessed the effect of several perinatal predictors on the development of A-not-B performance between 7 and 14 months corrected age in 76 infants born preterm, and its relationship to subsequent global cognitive functioning. Latent Growth Modeling showed that gestational age was a predictor of initial level, and that birth weight and gender were predictors of the rate of developmental change in A-not-B performance. Moreover, initial level and rate of developmental change in A-not-B performance were predictive of global cognitive functioning.