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Executive function in Williams and Down syndromes.

Daniel P J Carney1, Janice H Brown, Lucy A Henry

  • 1Department of Psychology, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, United Kingdom. carneyd@lsbu.ac.uk

Research in Developmental Disabilities
|September 4, 2012
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Children with Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS) show distinct executive function (EF) challenges. Their performance varies by task type, highlighting syndrome-specific cognitive profiles in EF domains.

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Area of Science:

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS) present contrasting cognitive profiles, with WS typically showing verbal strengths and visuospatial weaknesses, while DS exhibits expressive language difficulties.
  • Executive functions (EF) are crucial for cognitive control, yet their specific manifestations in WS and DS, particularly concerning verbal versus visuospatial task demands, remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the executive function (EF) performance in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS).
  • To examine how verbal and visuospatial task types influence EF performance across different domains within these populations.
  • To compare the EF profiles of individuals with WS and DS to typically developing (TD) children, controlling for confounding factors.

Main Methods:

  • Administered analogous verbal and visuospatial measures across four EF domains: executive-loaded working memory (ELWM), inhibition, fluency, and set-shifting.
  • Utilized regression techniques to compare performance between individuals with WS, DS, and TD children, while controlling for cognitive and developmental variables.

Main Results:

  • Individuals with WS demonstrated expected visuospatial difficulties in ELWM and fluency tasks compared to TD peers.
  • Individuals with DS exhibited expected verbal difficulties in set-shifting tasks.
  • Both groups showed syndrome-specific pervasive deficits: ELWM in DS and inhibition in WS, alongside varied EF performance influenced by task modality and domain.

Conclusions:

  • Williams syndrome and Down syndrome populations exhibit distinct EF profiles, with performance varying by EF domain and task type (verbal/visuospatial).
  • The characteristic relative verbal/visuospatial strengths associated with WS and DS do not consistently appear across all EF domains.
  • Syndrome-specific patterns of executive function strengths and weaknesses were identified, underscoring the heterogeneity of cognitive profiles in these genetic conditions.