Age-Associated Memory Changes in Adults With Williams Syndrome

Age-associated changes on measures of episodic and working memory were examined in 15 adults with Williams Syndrome (WS; M age = 48.3 years, SD = 14.7; M IQ = 62.9, SD = 8.5) and their performance was compared to that of 33 adults with mental retardation (MR) with unspecified etiologies (M age = 54....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental neuropsychology 2004-01, Vol.26 (3), p.691-706
Main Authors: Devenny, Darlynne A., Krinsky-McHale, Sharon J., Kittler, Phyllis M., Flory, Michael, Jenkins, Edmund, Brown, W. Ted
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age differences
Aging - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Intellectual disabilities
Learning. Memory
Male
Medical disorders
Memory
Memory - physiology
Memory Disorders - physiopathology
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Mental Disorders - physiopathology
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Regression (Psychology)
Williams Syndrome - physiopathology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Age-associated changes on measures of episodic and working memory were examined in 15 adults with Williams Syndrome (WS; M age = 48.3 years, SD = 14.7; M IQ = 62.9, SD = 8.5) and their performance was compared to that of 33 adults with mental retardation (MR) with unspecified etiologies (M age = 54.2 years, SD = 8.9; M IQ = 61.7, SD = 6.5). Among the group with WS, older adults were significantly poorer than younger adults on the free recall task, a measure of episodic memory. Although this finding is consistent with normal aging, it occurred at a chronologically early age in adults with WS and was not found in their peers with unspecified MR. Although both groups showed small declines with age on a backward digit span task, a measure of working memory, for the group with WS the rate of decline on backward digit span was slower as compared to their performance on the free recall task. The findings from this study indicate a chronologically early and precipitous age-associated decrease in long-term, episodic memory in adults with WS.
ISSN:8756-5641
1532-6942
DOI:10.1207/s15326942dn2603_3