3-072 - The Neurocognitive Basis of Memory in Typical and Atypical Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The encoding and retrieval of content with temporal and spatial detail is a central aspect of the human memory system. This ability grows in increasing complexity over childhood, and is a common domain of impairment in developmental disorders. Although studies have charted the nature of memory deficits in atypical development, much remains unknown about the extent of their cognitive manifestation and corresponding neural differences. By studying typical and atypical development in parallel, we aim to shed light on the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of memory and the ways in which these change over the course of development. Thus, the goal of this symposium is to bring together research of varying innovative methodologies that provide new tools to study different aspects of memory at both the behavioral and neural level. The first paper uses a delayed recall paradigm to examine sleep problems and memory performance in children with Down syndrome (DS). The second paper uses fMRI methodology to examine the functional role of the hippocampus in the early development of episodic memory in TD toddlers. The third paper identifies a link between hippocampal volume and episodic memory performance in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS). The final paper presents a nonverbal behavioral task that tests the three components of episodic memory (what, where, when) in TD and WS children. Taken together, these papers present a diverse collection of developmental populations and novel research techniques that further our understanding of the neural bases and cognitive mechanisms that underlie human memory development.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chairs

• Katrina Ferrara, Georgetown University

• Janani Prabhakar, University of California, Davis

Individual Presentations

• To Sleep, Perchance to… Remember? Examining Relations between Sleep Problems and Recall Memory in Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Angela Lukowski, UC Irvine; Helen Milojevich, UNC

• Hippocampal Function and Memory Development in Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Janani Prabhakar, University of California, Davis; Elliott Gray Johnson, University of California, Davis; Christine Nordahl, University of California, Davis; Simona Ghetti, University of California-Davis

• Hippocampal Volume and Autobiographical Episodic Memory in Williams Syndrome - Presenting Author: Katrina Ferrara, Georgetown University; Alexandra Cohen, Johns Hopkins University; Timothy Brown, Johns Hopkins University; Michael Miller, Johns Hopkins University; Barbara Landau, Johns Hopkins University

• Organizing Memory Components Across Time - Presenting Author: Sang Ah Lee, University of Trento