A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome M. A. Porter1* and H. Dodd2 1 Macquarie University, Psychology Department and Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Australia 2 Macquarie University, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Australia Our research represents the first longitudinal study of cognitive functioning in Williams syndrome using the same cognitive test battery at time 1 and time 2, and the same cognitive test battery for all individuals, regardless of age or ability level. The aim of this study was to explore whether cognitive abilities remain stable over time in individuals with Williams syndrome. Twenty-seven individuals with Williams syndrome participated; all had tested positive for the elastin gene deletion (FISH test), and were aged between 5 and 43 years at initial assessment. There were 14 females and 13 males in the study. The participants were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability – Revised (WJ-R COG, Woodcock & Johnson, 1989, 1990) at time 1, and again at time 2, during follow up approximately five years later. The WJ-R COG assesses seven broad cognitive domains: Long-term Retrieval; Short-term Memory; Processing Speed; Fluid Reasoning; Comprehensionknowledge, Visual Processing and Auditory Processing. The test publishes norms for typically developing individuals aged 2 to 95 years. Results showed that the gap in ability levels between Williams syndrome individuals and the normal population had not changed significantly in the five year period from time 1 to time 2, neither had their individual patterns of cognitive strength and weakness. Discussion: These results suggest that cognitive functions remain stable in individuals with Williams syndrome, both in terms of their general level of ability and their personal profiles of strength and weakness, at least on the cognitive domains assessed using the WJ-R COG. The fact that cognitive functions did not change significantly substantiates continued research efforts into exploring the relationship between heterogeneous cognitive and genetic abnormalities in Williams syndrome and related chromosome 7 disorders. Conference: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome, Garden Grove,CA, United States, 13 Jul - 14 Jul, 2008. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: SESSION 6: Updates on Cognition in Williams Syndrome Citation: Porter MA and Dodd H (2009). A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome. Conference Abstract: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.07.019 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2009; Published Online: 30 Apr 2009. * Correspondence: M. A Porter, Macquarie University, Psychology Department and Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Sydney, Australia, melanie.porter@psy.mq.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers M. A Porter H. Dodd Google M. A Porter H. Dodd Google Scholar M. A Porter H. Dodd PubMed M. A Porter H. Dodd Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.