Spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous working memory in individuals with Williams syndrome

The aim of the present study was to compare visuospatial working memory performance in 18 individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) and 18 typically developing (TD) children matched for nonverbal mental age. Two aspects were considered: task presentation format (i.e., spatial-sequential or spatial-simultaneous), and level of attentional control (i.e., passive or active tasks). Our results showed that individuals with WS performed less well than TD children in passive spatial-simultaneous tasks, but not in passive spatial-sequential tasks. The former's performance was also worse in both active tasks. These findings suggest an impairment in the spatial-simultaneous working memory of individuals with WS, together with a more generalized difficulty in tasks requiring information storage and concurrent processing, as seen in other etiologies of intellectual disability.