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Executive functioning and memory for the Rey-Osterreith complex figure task among community adolescents
Dean W Beebe1, M Douglas Ris, Tanya Maines Brown
1Psychology Division, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ohio 45229-3039, USA. dean.beebe@cchmc.org
Applied Neuropsychology
|October 13, 2004
Summary
This study found that organizational strategies are key for visual memory in adolescents, though executive functioning tests did not fully align with visual memory performance. The Developmental Scoring System shows promise for assessing visual-constructional skills.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Empirical evidence supports a link between executive functioning (EF) and visual memory in adults.
- Less research has explored this relationship in children and adolescents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between various executive functioning measures and visual memory performance in adolescents.
- To assess the validity of the Developmental Scoring System (DSS) for scoring the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (RCF).
Main Methods:
- 160 community adolescents completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and the RCF.
- The RCF was scored using the Bernstein and Waber (1996) Developmental Scoring System (DSS).
Main Results:
- Organizational ability in the RCF correlated with memory encoding/retrieval but not long-term storage.
- WCST and CPT measures did not correlate with any RCF index, questioning the link between DSS scores and EF.
- The DSS demonstrated convergent validity for visual-constructional ability.
Conclusions:
- Organizational strategies are important for adolescent visual memory.
- The DSS is a valid measure of visual-constructional ability in adolescents.
- Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between specific EF measures and visual memory assessed by the DSS.