Measures Of Visuospatial Working Memory Research Articles

An Investigation of Working Memory Profile and Fluid Intelligence in Children With Neurodevelopmental Difficulties.

The present study aims to evaluate the distinct patterns of working memory (WM) capacity of children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), High-functioning children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and children with Down syndrome (DS). More specifically, the current study investigates the complex relationship of fluid intelligence and WM between 39 children with DLD, 20 H igh-functioning children with ASD, and 15 children with DS. All children were evaluated in different measures of Phonological Working Memory, Visual-spatial Working Memory whereas Fluid Intelligence was measured with Raven Progressive Matrices. The result analysis revealed a significant difference among the three groups, both among each function separately and the correlations among them, as well. The results revealed that the DLD groups and High-functioning ASD group exhibited a common picture or an overlap of performances in all Phonological and Visuo-spatial working memory measures, except Backward Digit Recall task. As for the DS group research findings revealed different and unique working memory patterns in comparison to DLD group and High-functioning ASD. Their differences have been studied and further conclusions have been drawn about the different patterns of working memory among the three clinical groups. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of support for learning. The common profile that characterize the two developmental conditions and the distinct pattern of working memory performance in DS group underlies the need for further research in the field.

A distinction between working memory components as unique predictors of mathematical components in 7–8 year old children

Despite evidence for the involvement of working memory in mathematics attainment, the understanding of its components relationship to individual areas of mathematics is somewhat restricted. This study aims to better understand this relationship. Two-hundred and fourteen year 3 children in the UK were administered tests of verbal and visuospatial working memory, followed by a standardised mathematics test. Confirmatory factor analyses and variance partitioning were then performed on the data to identify the unique variance accounted for by verbal and visuospatial working memory measures for each component of mathematics assessed. Results revealed contrasting patterns between components, with those typically visual components demonstrating a larger proportion of unique variance explained by visuospatial measures. This pattern reveals a level of specificity with regard to the component of working memory engaged depending on the component of mathematics being assessed. Implications for educators and further research are discussed.

Multivariate relationships between peripheral inflammatory marker subtypes and cognitive and brain structural measures in psychosis.

Elevations in peripheral inflammatory markers have been reported in patients with psychosis. Whether this represents an inflammatory process defined by individual or subgroups of markers is unclear. Further, relationships between peripheral inflammatory marker elevations and brain structure, cognition, and clinical features of psychosis remain unclear. We hypothesized that a pattern of plasma inflammatory markers, and an inflammatory subtype established from this pattern, would be elevated across the psychosis spectrum and associated with cognition and brain structural alterations. Clinically stable psychosis probands (Schizophrenia spectrum, n=79; Psychotic Bipolar disorder, n=61) and matched healthy controls (HC, n=60) were assessed for 15 peripheral inflammatory markers, cortical thickness, subcortical volume, cognition, and symptoms. A combination of unsupervised exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical clustering was used to identify inflammation subtypes. Levels of IL6, TNFα, VEGF, and CRP were significantly higher in psychosis probands compared to HCs, and there were marker-specific differences when comparing diagnostic groups. Individual and/or inflammatory marker patterns were associated with neuroimaging, cognition, and symptom measures. A higher inflammation subgroup was defined by elevations in a group of 7 markers in 36% of Probands and 20% of HCs. Probands in the elevated inflammatory marker group performed significantly worse on cognitive measures of visuo-spatial working memory and response inhibition, displayed elevated hippocampal, amygdala, putamen and thalamus volumes, and evidence of gray matter thickening compared to the proband group with low inflammatory marker levels. These findings specify the nature of peripheral inflammatory marker alterations in psychotic disorders and establish clinical, neurocognitive and neuroanatomic associations with increased inflammatory activation in psychosis. The identification of a specific subgroup of patients with inflammatory alteration provides a potential means for targeting treatment with anti-inflammatory medications.

Verbal and visual-spatial working memory: What develops over a life span?

This study investigates whether age-related changes in the structure of 5 complex working memory (WM) tasks (a) reflect a general or domain specific system, (b) follows a similar trajectory across different age spans, and (c) contribute domain general or domain specific resources to achievement measures. The study parsed the sample (N = 2,471) into 11 age groups (mean ages of 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 26, 41, and 66 years), and compared their performances on verbal and visuospatial WM measures. Three important findings emerged: (a) a confirmatory factor analysis and Schmid-Leiman transformation to a high-order model solution supported a domain general factor model for the total sample as well as separately for children and adults, (b) performance on visual-spatial WM tasks as a function of age decreased at a faster rate than verbal WM tasks, and (c) both verbal and visual-spatial WM measures in concert with each other uniquely predicted reading and math measures, suggesting that a domain general WM system contributed to performance on achievement measures. The results support the notion that (a) complex WM tasks function as a domain general system and (b) the factor structure for children and adults on complex WM tasks was highly similar, even though there was evidence of differentiation among verbal and visual-spatial WM measures at certain age groups. (PsycINFO Database Record

Investigating the relationship between working memory and emotion regulation in mothers

ABSTRACTRecent work suggests that executive functions, specifically working memory, may facilitate emotion regulation (ER). Here we examined whether measures of visuospatial working memory and verbal working memory relate to ER in a group of recent mothers. We found that while visuospatial working memory was associated with, and predictive of, self-reported measures of ER and emotion dysregulation—verbal working memory was correlated to only one dimension of emotion dysregulation. These findings suggest that working memory may play a unique role in everyday regulatory functioning. We frame our results in terms of the broader implications they may have for the potential role of executive functioning in parenting.

Metacognitive Strategy Training Adds to the Effects of Working Memory Training in Children with Special Educational Needs

The effects of computer-based Working Memory (WM) training using two training procedures were examined among sixty-four primary-school children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Measures of general cognitive ability, auditory and visuospatial working memory, arithmetic ability, and reading and writing skills were gathered and analysed. The referred group of SEN children predominantly had lower performance in auditory WM, arithmetics and reading and writing skills. The SEN children within respective school were randomized into either an active WM training group or a control group and ten schools participating in the WM training study were randomized into one of two different training conditions. At five schools the SEN children received regular WM training and at the other five schools the children received WM training with the addition of metacognitive strategy training. Results showed a significant difference in WM performance during training in favor of the metacognitive intervention. Furthermore, transfer effects occurred on visuospatial WM measures at posttest and at 6-month follow-up. Post-hoc tests showed that the effects pertained only to the metacognitive intervention. No transfer to arithmetic or reading and writing skills occurred after training in the two training conditions. Results were discussed in terms of metacognitive factors being important in optimizing performance in WM training, and that such factors should be taken into consideration when designing interventions for children with SEN. It is also suggested that in referral of children with SEN to remediation with WM training the WM profiles should be taken into consideration to a greater degree.

Foreword

Background: Recent evidence suggests that specific language impairment (SLI) might be secondary to general cognitive processing limitations in the domain of executive functioning. Previous research has focused almost exclusively on monolingual children with SLI and offers little evidence-based guidance on executive functioning in bilingual children with SLI. Studying bilinguals with SLI is important, especially in the light of increasing evidence that bilingualism can bring advantages in certain domains of executive functioning. Aims: To determine whether executive functioning represents an area of difficulty for bilingual language-minority children with SLI and, if so, which specific executive processes are affected. Methods & Procedures: This cross-cultural research was conducted with bilingual children from Luxembourg and monolingualchildrenfromPortugalwhoallhadPortugueseastheirfirstlanguage.Thedatafrom81eight-year-olds from the following three groups were analysed: (1) 15 Portuguese‐Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg with an SLI diagnosis; (2) 33 typically developing Portuguese‐Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg; and (3) 33 typically developing Portuguese-speaking monolinguals from Portugal. Groups were matched on first language, ethnicity, chronological age and socioeconomic status, and they did not differ in nonverbal intelligence. Children completed a battery of tests tapping: expressive and receptive vocabulary, syntacticcomprehension, verbal and visuospatial working memory, selective attention and interference suppression. Outcomes & Results: The bilingual SLI group performed equally well compared with their typically developing peers on measures of visuospatial working memory, but had lower scores than both control groups on tasks of verbal working memory. On measures of selective attention and interference suppression, typically developing children who were bilingual outperformed their monolingual counterparts. For selective attention, performance of the bilingual SLI group did not differ significantly from the controls. For interference suppression the bilingual SLI group performed significantly less well than typically developing bilinguals but not monolinguals. Conclusions&Implications:ThisresearchprovidesfurthersupporttothepositionthatSLIisnotalanguage-specific disorder. The study indicates that although bilingual children with SLI do not demonstrate the same advantages in selective attention and interference suppression as typically developing bilinguals, they do not lag behind typically developing monolinguals in these domains of executive functioning. This finding raises the possibility that bilingualism might represent a protective factor against some of the cognitive limitations that are associated with SLI in monolinguals.

Working Memory Training in Old Age: An Examination of Transfer and Maintenance Effects

The present study examined the efficacy of a verbal working memory (WM) training program in old-old individuals (over 75 years of age). Thirty-six adults aged 75-87 took part in the study: 18 were randomly assigned to receive training and the remainder served as active controls. Specific training gains in a verbal WM task (criterion task), and transfer effects on measures of visuospatial WM, short-term memory, inhibition, processing speed, and fluid intelligence were examined. The trained old-old adults performed better than the controls in the criterion task, and this benefit persisted after 8 months; they also showed an increase in the efficiency of inhibitory mechanisms at follow-up compared with pretest. The results of this study suggest that the present WM training program produces benefits maintained over time even in old-old adults. These findings confirm that there is still room for plasticity in the basic mechanisms of cognition in advance old age.

Brain Activity during a Visuospatial Working Memory Task Predicts Arithmetical Performance 2 Years Later

Visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity is highly correlated with mathematical reasoning abilities and can predict future development of arithmetical performance. Activity in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) during visuospatial WM tasks correlates with interindividual differences in WM capacity. This region has also been implicated in numerical representation, and its structure and activity reflect arithmetical performance impairments (e.g., dyscalculia). We collected behavioral (N = 246) and neuroimaging data (N = 46) in a longitudinal sample to test whether IPS activity during a visuospatial WM task could provide more information than psychological testing alone and predict arithmetical performance 2 years later in healthy participants aged 6-16 years. Nonverbal reasoning and verbal and visuospatial WM measures were found to be independent predictors of arithmetical outcome. In addition, WM activation in the left IPS predicted arithmetical outcome independently of behavioral measures. A logistic model including both behavioral and imaging data showed improved sensitivity by correctly classifying more than twice as many children as poor arithmetical performers after 2 years than a model with behavioral measures only. These results demonstrate that neuroimaging data can provide useful information in addition to behavioral assessments and be used to improve the identification of individuals at risk of future low academic performance.

Working Memory Deficits in ADHD

Objective: To further define the nature of working memory (WM) impairments in children with combined-type ADHD. Method: A total of 40 Children with ADHD and an age and gender-matched control group (n = 40) completed two measures of visuo-spatial WM and two measures of verbal WM. The effects of age and learning/language difficulties on performance were evaluated. Results: Children with ADHD obtained significantly lower scores than controls on measures of both visuo-spatial and verbal WM. The impairments in verbal WM were age related. Conclusion: Children with ADHD exhibit impaired visuo-spatial WM performance. Younger (less than 8 years), but not older, children with ADHD demonstrate impairments in verbal WM. This latter result may explain the previously reported inconsistent performance of children with ADHD on verbal WM tasks. The importance of taking a developmental perspective in WM research is stressed.

Working memory training in older adults: Evidence of transfer and maintenance effects.

Few studies have examined working memory (WM) training-related gains and their transfer and maintenance effects in older adults. This present research investigates the efficacy of a verbal WM training program in adults aged 65-75 years, considering specific training gains on a verbal WM (criterion) task as well as transfer effects on measures of visuospatial WM, short-term memory, inhibition, processing speed, and fluid intelligence. Maintenance of training benefits was evaluated at 8-month follow-up. Trained older adults showed higher performance than did controls on the criterion task and maintained this benefit after 8 months. Substantial general transfer effects were found for the trained group, but not for the control one. Transfer maintenance gains were found at follow-up, but only for fluid intelligence and processing speed tasks. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive plasticity in older adults.

Dissociation of long-term verbal memory and fronto-executive impairment in first-episode psychosis

BackgroundVerbal memory is frequently and severely affected in schizophrenia and has been implicated as a mediator of poor clinical outcome. Whereas encoding deficits are well demonstrated, it is unclear whether retention is impaired. This distinction is important because accelerated forgetting implies impaired consolidation attributable to medial temporal lobe (MTL) dysfunction whereas impaired encoding and retrieval implicates involvement of prefrontal cortex.MethodWe assessed a group of healthy volunteers (n=97) and pre-morbid IQ- and sex-matched first-episode psychosis patients (n=97), the majority of whom developed schizophrenia. We compared performance of verbal learning and recall with measures of visuospatial working memory, planning and attentional set-shifting, and also current IQ.ResultsAll measures of performance, including verbal memory retention, a memory savings score that accounted for learning impairments, were significantly impaired in the schizophrenia group. The difference between groups for delayed recall remained even after the influence of learning and recall was accounted for. Factor analyses showed that, in patients, all variables except verbal memory retention loaded on a single factor, whereas in controls verbal memory and fronto-executive measures were separable.ConclusionsThe results suggest that IQ, executive function and verbal learning deficits in schizophrenia may reflect a common abnormality of information processing in prefrontal cortex rather than specific impairments in different cognitive domains. Verbal memory retention impairments, however, may have a different aetiology.

Some factors underlying mathematical performance: The role of visuospatial working memory and non-verbal intelligence

Passive and active visuospatial working memory (VSWM) were investigated in relation to maths performance. The mental rotation task was employed as a measure of active VSWM whereas passive VSWM was investigated using a modified Corsi Blocks task and a matrix pattern task. The Raven Progressive Matrices Test measured fluid intelligence. A total of 128 students, aged 15–16, served as participants. Fluid intelligence and passive VSWM accounted for variance in overall maths performance. Active VSWM exhibited significant correlations with maths measures, but in a series of regression analyses most of its effect was observed to be mediated by fluid intelligence. Different subscores of mathematical skills (geometry, word problems, and mental arithmetic) were accounted for by fluid intelligence and different measures of VSWM. The educational implications of the results are discussed.