The effects of neonatal jaundice and respiratory complications on learning and habituation in 5- to 11-month-old infants.

The influences of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and respiratory complications were examined in 5- to 11-month-old infants in two studies. One study focused on habituation performance and the other on contingency learning. In both experiments, three neonatal jaundice conditions (no jaundice history, measured bilirubin, phototherapy) were crossed with two levels of neonatal respiratory risk (no oxygen intervention, oxygen intervention). For low respiratory risk subjects there were increasingly adverse effects for both habituation and learning the more severe the jaundice history. A complex pattern emerged for the high respiratory risk groups. Only for the learning task were the results consistent with a summative effect of neonatal jaundice and respiratory risk factors.