# AROUSAL AND ATTENTION IN HIGH-RISK NEONATES

> **NIH NIH R01** · INSTITUTE FOR BASIC RES IN DEV DISABIL · 1994 · $380,768

## Abstract

This project continues to study premature and brain injured neonates,
hypothesizing (a) that these risk conditions differentially reduce the
ability to modulate arousal and attention processes, and (b) that the
pattern of disruption in arousal/attention modulation predicts both
degree of early brain injury and later percentual cognitive and
motivational development.  We have developed and refined a measure of
neonatal behavior using the visual preference technique that shows
systematic differences in preference functions with controlled
manipulations of arousal due to changes in internal as well as external
sources of stimulation.  We have demonstrated that:  (a) high-risk and
preterm infants, as to normal term infants, show a general shift in
looking preference with arousal manipulations; but that (b) the more
severe the brain injury, the less the shift in looking preferences toward
higher frequencies when less aroused.  The present proposal will enable
us to establish how CNS pathology, acting through poor arousal/attention
modulation in the neonate, can form the substrate on which later behavior
develops and can be expressed in diverse circumstances related to higher-
level cognitive attainment.  Infants (n=288) stratified into 8 groups
related to brain injury will be studied from birth to 19 months at 3
month intervals.  We have designed studies that will provide converging
information from measures of arousal modulated visual recognition memory,
cortisol reactivity to different stressors, and vagally mediated control
over heart rate.  We predict that arousal manipulations will modulate
responding across measures, but that degree of response modulation will
be differentially affected by degree and type of CNS compromise.  Prior
to hospital discharge, and at 1 and 4 months, visual recognition memory
will interact with arousal level in a manner analogous to the visual
preference task such that the magnitude of difference between preferences
for novelty in different arousal conditions will be proportional to CNS
insult, with arousal less influential the older and healthier the infant.
As the infant matures, more challenging tasks will be needed to
differentiate brain injury; for example, those involving intersensory
(auditory-visual) integration may become better discriminators.  We
hypothesize that measures of focused attention, distractibility,
irritability, goal-directed behavior, and exploratory behavior at later
ages will correlate to lack of modulation of early attention.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2198324
- **Project number:** 5R01HD021784-09
- **Recipient organization:** INSTITUTE FOR BASIC RES IN DEV DISABIL
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LKEPMM3KKF27
- **Principal Investigator:** JUDITH M GARDNER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $380,768
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1986-04-01 → 1998-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2198324

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2198324, AROUSAL AND ATTENTION IN HIGH-RISK NEONATES (5R01HD021784-09). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2198324. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*