3-218 - Recall Memory in Children with Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Controls: Longitudinal Relations and Moderating Influences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common chromosomal abnormalities across the globe and a leading genetic cause of intellectual impairment (National Down Syndrome Society, 2012). Nevertheless, limited basic science research has been conducted to examine cognitive development in young children with DS. Such research is necessary not only for identifying areas of relative cognitive competence and weakness in children with DS, but also for understanding how cognitive development proceeds in typically developing (TD) samples. The submitted symposium includes three papers examining cognitive functioning in children with DS. The first paper reports on social-contextual influences on recall memory in young children with DS and TD children matched on developmental age, with results from one study indicating that the presence of an older sibling (relative to no sibling) is differentially associated with encoding performance by group. The second paper examines sleep-dependent memory consolidation in TD preschoolers and those with DS, reporting different patterns of mnemonic performance by group when children sleep or remain awake after learning. The final paper describes longitudinal relations amongst measures of cognitive functioning from 6 to 12 years of age in children with DS, highlighting predictive relations from immediate imitation at Time 1 to theory of mind at Time 2. The discussant will integrate findings from these three papers and provide further commentary on the various ways in which the study of children with developmental disorders is of significant value to mainstream developmental science.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chair

• Angela Lukowski, UC Irvine

Discussant

• Nora S. Newcombe, Temple University

Individual Presentations

• Examining Who – and What – You Know: The Social Context and Recall Memory in Children with Down Syndrome - Presenting Author: Angela Lukowski, UC Irvine; Helen Milojevich, UNC

• Memory Consolidation across Naps in Typical Development and in Preschoolers with Down Syndrome - Goffredina Spano, University of Arizona; Rebecca Gomez, University of Arizona; Bianca Demara, University of Arizona; Stephen Cowen, University of Arizona; Presenting Author: Jamie Edgin, University of Arizona

• Memory, Imitation, and Theory of Mind in Children with Down Syndrome: Observations at 6 and 12 Years of Age - Presenting Author: Mikael Heimann, Linköping University; Kajsa Flodin, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Tomas Tjus, University of Gothenburg