Eye‐tracking for longitudinal assessment of social cognition in children born preterm. Link to paper on The Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry Authors Bethan Dean, Lorna Ginnell, Victoria Ledsham, Athanasios Tsanas, Emma Telford, Sarah Sparrow, Sue Fletcher‐Watson, James P. Boardman Abstract Background & objectives: Preterm birth is associated with atypical social cognition in infancy, & cognitive impairment & social difficulties in childhood. Little is known about the stability of social cognition through childhood, & its relationship with neurodevelopment. We used eye‐tracking in preterm & term‐born infants to investigate social attentional preference in infancy & at 5 years, its relationship with neurodevelopment & the influence of socioeconomic deprivation. Methods: A cohort of 81 preterm & 66 term infants with mean (range) gestational age at birth 28+5 (23+2–33+0) & 40+0 (37+0–42+1) respectively, completed eye‐tracking at 7–9 months, with a subset re‐assessed at 5 years. Three free‐viewing social tasks of increasing stimulus complexity were presented, & a social preference score was derived from looking time to socially informative areas. Socioeconomic data & the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 5 years were collected. Results: Preterm children had lower social preference scores at 7–9 months compared with term‐born controls. Term‐born children’s scores were stable between time points, whereas preterm children showed a significant increase, reaching equivalent scores by 5 years. Low gestational age & socioeconomic deprivation were associated with reduced social preference scores at 7–9 months. At 5 years, preterm infants had lower Early Learning Composite scores than controls, but this was not associated with social attentional preference in infancy or at 5 years. Conclusions: Preterm children have reduced social attentional preference at 7–9 months compared with term‐born controls, but catch up by 5 years. Infant social cognition is influenced by socioeconomic deprivation & gestational age. Social cognition & neurodevelopment have different trajectories following preterm birth. Keywords Development Eye gaze Prematurity Social cognition Related links Link to paper on The Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry Professor James Boardman MRC Centre for Reproductive Health Perinatal Neuroimaging Social media tags & titles Featured paper: Eye‐tracking for longitudinal assessment of social cognition in children born preterm. @JamesPeterBoar2 @MRC_CRH #Development #Prematurity Publication date 03 Aug, 2020