Spatial-Sequential and Spatial-Simultaneous Working Memory in Individuals With Williams Syndrome

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Lanfranchi ◽  
Letizia De Mori ◽  
Irene C Mammarella ◽  
Barbara Carretti ◽  
Renzo Vianello
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
Presentation Format ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Concurrent Processing ◽  
Mental Age

Abstract The aim of the present study was to compare visuospatial working memory performance in 18 individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) and 18 typically developing (TD) children matched for nonverbal mental age. Two aspects were considered: task presentation format (i.e., spatial-sequential or spatial-simultaneous), and level of attentional control (i.e., passive or active tasks). Our results showed that individuals with WS performed less well than TD children in passive spatial-simultaneous tasks, but not in passive spatial-sequential tasks. The former's performance was also worse in both active tasks. These findings suggest an impairment in the spatial-simultaneous working memory of individuals with WS, together with a more generalized difficulty in tasks requiring information storage and concurrent processing, as seen in other etiologies of intellectual disability.

Relationships Between Working Memory and Academic Skills: Are There Differences Between Children With Intellectual Disabilities and Typically Developing Children?

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Poloczek ◽  
Gerhard Büttner ◽  
Marcus Hasselhorn
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Calculation Skills ◽  
Memory Resources

In typically developing children, working memory is linked to academic skills. However, little is known about the role working memory plays for learning in children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine whether different working memory functions are related to reading, spelling, and calculating in children with ID of nonspecific etiology and whether these relationships are different from the ones found in typically developing children. Forty-seven children with mild-to-borderline ID and 47 children matched for mental age were tested. Although in typically developing children, only phonological short-term memory tasks were predictive for literacy, for children with ID, visuospatial working memory tasks also accounted for variance. In typically developing children, calculation skills were predicted by phonological working memory tasks, whereas visuospatial working memory resources were crucial for children with ID. Several possible explanations are discussed for discrepancies in prediction patterns.

Do Children With Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Have Difficulties With Interference Control, Visuospatial Working Memory, and Selective Attention? Developmental Patterns and the Role of Severity and Persistence of DLD

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 3036-3050
Author(s):  
Elma Blom ◽  
Tessel Boerma
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have weaknesses in executive functioning (EF), specifically in tasks testing interference control and working memory. It is unknown how EF develops in children with DLD, if EF abilities are related to DLD severity and persistence, and if EF weaknesses expand to selective attention. This study aimed to address these gaps. Method Data from 78 children with DLD and 39 typically developing (TD) children were collected at three times with 1-year intervals. At Time 1, the children were 5 or 6 years old. Flanker, Dot Matrix, and Sky Search tasks tested interference control, visuospatial working memory, and selective attention, respectively. DLD severity was based on children's language ability. DLD persistence was based on stability of the DLD diagnosis. Results Performance on all tasks improved in both groups. TD children outperformed children with DLD on interference control. No differences were found for visuospatial working memory and selective attention. An interference control gap between the DLD and TD groups emerged between Time 1 and Time 2. Severity and persistence of DLD were related to interference control and working memory; the impact on working memory was stronger. Selective attention was unrelated to DLD severity and persistence. Conclusions Age and DLD severity and persistence determine whether or not children with DLD show EF weaknesses. Interference control is most clearly impaired in children with DLD who are 6 years and older. Visuospatial working memory is impaired in children with severe and persistent DLD. Selective attention is spared.

Visuospatial Working Memory Deficits and Visual Pursuit Impairments are Not Directly Related in Schizophrenia

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 766-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Cocchi ◽  
Francesca Bosisio ◽  
Olivia Carter ◽  
Stephen J. Wood ◽  
André Berchtold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Correct Choice ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Visual Pursuit ◽  
Scanning Time ◽  
Time Scanning ◽  
Correct Path

Objective: Patients with schizophrenia show deficits in visuospatial working memory and visual pursuit processes. It is currently unclear, however, whether both impairments are related to a common neuropathological origin. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the possible relations between the encoding and the discrimination of dynamic visuospatial stimuli in schizophrenia. Method: Sixteen outpatients with schizophrenia and 16 control subjects were asked to encode complex disc displacements presented on a screen. After a delay, participants had to identify the previously presented disc trajectory from a choice of six static linear paths, among which were five incorrect paths. The precision of visual pursuit eye movements during the initial presentation of the dynamic stimulus was assessed. The fixations and scanning time in definite regions of the six paths presented during the discrimination phase were investigated. Results: In comparison with controls, patients showed poorer task performance, reduced pursuit accuracy during incorrect trials and less time scanning the correct stimulus or the incorrect paths approximating its global structure. Patients also spent less time scanning the leftmost portion of the correct path even when making a correct choice. The accuracy of visual pursuit and head movements, however, was not correlated with task performance. Conclusions: The present study provides direct support for the hypothesis that active integration of visuospatial information within working memory is deficient in schizophrenia. In contrast, a general impairment of oculomotor mechanisms involved in smooth pursuit did not appear to be directly related to lower visuospatial working memory performance in schizophrenia.

Intrusion errors in visuospatial working memory performance

Memory ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesare Cornoldi ◽  
Nicola Mammarella
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Intrusion Errors

Attention allocation to facial expressions of emotion among persons with Williams and Down syndromes

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 1189-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Goldman ◽  
Cory Shulman ◽  
Yair Bar-Haim ◽  
Rany Abend ◽  
Jacob A. Burack
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Williams Syndrome Group ◽  
Facial Expressions Of Emotion

AbstractIndividuals with Williams syndrome and those with Down syndrome are both characterized by heightened social interest, although the manifestation is not always similar. Using a dot-probe task, we examined one possible source of difference: allocation of attention to facial expressions of emotion. Thirteen individuals with Williams syndrome (mean age = 19.2 years, range = 10–28.6), 20 with Down syndrome (mean age = 18.8 years, range = 12.1–26.3), and 19 typically developing children participated. The groups were matched for mental age (mean = 5.8 years). None of the groups displayed a bias to angry faces. The participants with Williams syndrome showed a selective bias toward happy faces, whereas the participants with Down syndrome behaved similarly to the typically developing participants with no such bias. Homogeneity in the direction of bias was markedly highest in the Williams syndrome group whose bias appeared to result from enhanced attention capture. They appeared to rapidly and selectively allocate attention toward positive facial expressions. The complexity of social approach behavior and the need to explore other aspects of cognition that may be implicated in this behavior in both syndromes is discussed.

Differential role of visuospatial working memory in the propensity toward uncertainty in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and in healthy subjects

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 2113-2124 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Lambrecq ◽  
J.-Y. Rotge ◽  
N. Jaafari ◽  
B. Aouizerate ◽  
N. Langbour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Temporal Direction

BackgroundObsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with visuospatial working memory deficits. Intolerance of uncertainty is thought to be a core component of OCD symptoms. Recent findings argue for a possible relationship between abilities in visuospatial memory and uncertainty. However, this relationship remains unclear in both OCD patients and healthy subjects. To address this issue, we measured performance in visuospatial working memory and the propensity to express uncertainty during decision making. We assessed their relationship and the temporal direction of this relationship in both OCD patients and healthy subjects.MethodBaseline abilities in visuospatial working memory were measured with the Corsi block-tapping test. A delayed matching-to-sample task was used to identify explicit situations of certainty, uncertainty and ignorance and to assess continuous performance in visuospatial working memory. Behavioural variables were recorded over 360 consecutive trials in both groups.ResultsBaseline scores of visuospatial working memory did not predict the number of uncertain situations in OCD patients whereas they did in healthy subjects. Uncertain trials led to reduced abilities in visuospatial working memory to 65% of usual performance in OCD patients whereas they remained stable in healthy subjects.ConclusionsThe present findings show an opposite temporal direction in the relationship between abilities in working memory and uncertainty in OCD patients and healthy subjects. Poor working memory performance contributes to the propensity to feel uncertainty in healthy subjects whereas uncertainty contributes to decreased continuous performance in working memory in OCD patients.

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