Spatial competences in Williams syndrome: a radial arm maze study

This study was aimed at evaluating spatial function in subjects with Williams syndrome by using the radial arm maze task and comparing their spatial abilities with those of mental age‐matched control subjects. Two different paradigms were administered: the free‐choice version for analyzing the aspec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of developmental neuroscience 2009-05, Vol.27 (3), p.205-213
Main Authors: Mandolesi, L., Addona, F., Foti, F., Menghini, D., Petrosini, L., Vicari, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Child
Cognitive behavior
Exploration strategies
Female
Genetic syndromes
Humans
Male
Maze Learning - physiology
Memory - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial Behavior - physiology
Spatial memory
Williams Syndrome - pathology
Williams Syndrome - physiopathology
Young Adult
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:This study was aimed at evaluating spatial function in subjects with Williams syndrome by using the radial arm maze task and comparing their spatial abilities with those of mental age‐matched control subjects. Two different paradigms were administered: the free‐choice version for analyzing the aspects linked mainly to procedural and mnesic components, the forced‐choice version for disentangling components linked to spatial working memory from the procedural ones. The findings evidenced a deficit in the acquisition of procedural competences as well as in the spatial memory processes in Williams subjects. In the free‐choice paradigm, they performed worse than control subjects on all parameters analyzed. Namely, they needed more time to complete the task, did not collect all rewards, exhibited low values of the spatial span as well as low percentages of correct visits, and displayed a reduced use of the most efficient exploration strategies. Even in the forced‐choice paradigm, Williams subjects made a number of errors significantly higher than control subjects. The marked impairment in spatial information processing is discussed on the light of neuro‐anatomical alterations reported in Williams subjects.
ISSN:0736-5748
1873-474X
DOI:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2009.01.004