Visuospatial and Numerical Cognitive Deficits in Children with Chromosome 22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

• Published in: Cortex 2005-04, Vol.41 (2), p.145-155
• Main Authors: Simon, Tony J., Bearden, Carrie E., Mc-Ginn, Donna McDonald, Zackai, Elaine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abnormalities, Multiple - genetics; Adolescent; Analysis of Variance; Attention; Child; chromosome 22q11.2; Chromosome Deletion; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22; Cognition Disorders - genetics; Craniofacial Abnormalities - genetics; Cues; enumeration; Heart Defects, Congenital - genetics; Humans; judgment; magnitude; Mathematics; parietal lobe; Parietal Lobe - physiopathology; Perceptual Disorders - genetics; Reference Values; Siblings; Space Perception - physiology; Syndrome; VCFS; Visual Perception - genetics
• ISSN: 0010-9452; 1973-8102
• DOI: 10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70889-X

This article presents some of the earliest evidence of visuospatial and numerical cognitive deficits in children with the chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome; a common but ill-understood genetic disorder resulting in medical complications, cognitive impairment, and brain morphologic changes. Relative to a group of typically developing controls, deleted children performed more poorly on tests of visual attentional orienting, visual enumeration and relative numerical magnitude judgment. Results showed that performance deficits in children with the deletion could not be explained by a global deficit in psychomotor speed. Instead, our findings are supportive of the hypothesis that visuospatial and numerical deficits in children with the chromosome 22q11.2 deletion are due, at least in part, to posterior parietal dysfunction.