Visual perception and memory impairments in children at risk of nonverbal learning disabilities

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and visual perception were examined in two groups aged 11-13, one with children displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning disability (NLD) (n = 18) and the other a control group without learning disabilities (n = 18). The two groups were matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. The children were presented with VSWM tests involving visual and spatial-simultaneous processes, and also with a classical visual illusion, a classical ambiguous figure, as well as visual perception tests specifically devised for the present study. Results revealed that performance of children at risk of NLD was worse than controls in some VSWM and in visual perception tests without memory involvement; these latter required comparisons of visual stimuli and locations in space with distractors. Moreover, the two groups differed in perceiving the classical ambiguous figure. Findings are discussed in the light of both theoretical and clinical implications.