The aim of this study was to determine whether there are primary effects of
prematurity on the development of explicit memory. Elicited imitation of a
ction sequences was used to compare immediate and 15-minute delayed memory
in term and preterm infants (19 months corrected age; n=48) who were at low
risk: none had experienced the medical or social risk factors often associ
ated with preterm birth. Relative to infants born at term (38 to 40 weeks'
gestation), children who had been born at 27 to 34 weeks' gestation showed
lower levels of ordered recall; performance of healthy infants born at 35 t
o 37 weeks' gestation was intermediate and did not differ significantly fro
m that of the other groups. These results suggest that specific cognitive d
eficits can occur as a function of preterm birth even in low-risk infants.