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Memory and selective learning in children with spina bifida-myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus: a preliminary
Behroze Vachha1, Richard C Adams
1Pediatric Developmental Disabilities, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, TX 75219, USA. behroze.vachha@tsrh.org
Insights
Children with spina bifida-myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus (SB/SH) exhibit a poorer memory span and struggle with selective learning strategies. They often fail to prioritize important information, impacting academic success.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Selective learning is crucial for academic success, involving the ability to prioritize relevant information.
- Limited research exists on learning efficiency in children with spina bifida-myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus (SB/SH).
- This study investigates learning components and metacognitive skills in children with SB/SH.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess memory span and selective learning efficiency (SLE) in children with SB/SH compared to controls.
- To explore the metacognitive strategies employed by children with SB/SH during learning tasks.
- To understand potential learning challenges faced by children with SB/SH.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 26 children with SB/SH and 26 controls (ages 7-16) with average intelligence participated.
- Participants completed selective learning tasks involving categorized word lists across three trials.
- Memory span was measured by total words learned; SLE was calculated based on the efficient learning of high-value items.
Main Results:
- Children with SB/SH demonstrated a significantly poorer memory span than controls (P < 0.05).
- While SLE was not statistically different, a majority of SB/SH children (65%) reported inefficient strategies (learning all words) versus controls (85% prioritizing high-value words).
- This suggests a metacognitive deficit in strategy monitoring and reporting within the SB/SH group.
Conclusions:
- Children with SB/SH have impaired memory span and metacognitive abilities for selective learning.
- These findings may explain difficulties in recalling key information while focusing on extraneous details, observed in previous clinical and research contexts.
- Interventions targeting metacognitive strategy training could benefit children with SB/SH in academic settings.
Background:
Selective learning is the ability to select items of relevance from among less important items. Limited evidence exists regarding the efficiency with which children with spina bifida-myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus (SB/SH) are able to learn information. This report describes initial data related to components of learning and metacognitive skills in children with SB/SH.
Methods:
Twenty six children with SB/SH and 26 controls (age: 7-16 y) with average intelligence, and monolingual English-speaking backgrounds participated in the study. Exclusion criteria for the SB/SH group were: prior history of shunt infection, history of seizure or shunt malfunction within the previous three months, prior diagnoses of attention disorders and/or clinical depression. Children were presented lists of words with equal exemplars each of two distinct semantic categories (e.g. fruits, animals), and told to make as high a score as possible by learning the words. The value of the words was designated by category membership (e.g. animals = low value; fruits = high value). The total number of words learned across three learning trials was used to determine memory span. Selective learning efficiency (SLE) was computed as the efficiency with which items of greater value were selectively learned across three trials.
Results:
Children with SB/SH did worse than controls on memory span (P < 0.05). Although SLE was not significantly different between groups, when asked what strategy was used in the selective learning tasks, 65% of the SB/SH children said they tried to remember all words (inefficient strategy). In contrast, 85% of controls said they tried to remember the higher value words--the more efficient strategy.
Conclusion:
Success in school is often dependent on the ability to recall important facts selectively and ignore less important information. Children with SB/SH in our study had a poor memory span and were unable to monitor and report an efficient and workable metacognitive strategy required to remember a list of words. Preliminary findings may begin to explain our previous clinical and research findings wherein children with SB/SH often focus on extraneous details, but demonstrate difficulty remembering the main gist of a story/event.
