Alterations of working memory in adults with sensorimotor disorders.Exploringembodied cognition: a retrospective...

This study is based on the embodied cognition dimension of third-generation cognitive models, which postulate that cognition is an embodied, extended, embedded, and enactive phenomenon (4E Theory).

To determine whether there are significant differences in working memory between groups of people with sensorimotor disorders due to non-cortical neurological lesions and healthy people matched for sex, age and education.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Working memory (outcome) was compared between a cohort of individuals with sensorimotor disorders and a control group of healthy individuals matched for sex, age, and education. Each group included 41 individuals between 19 and 55 years of age. The following tests were performed: Working Memory Index of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV (WMI-WAIS IV), Trail Making Test - part B (TMT-B), Corsi Block-Tapping Test and Cognitive Event-Related Potentials (ERPs).

Statistically significant differences were found in: TMT-B (p = .017), arithmetic component of WMI-WAIS IV (p = .045), N100 (p < .050), N200 (p ≤ .001) and P300 (p ≤ .005) wave latencies, and N200-P300 peak-to-peak amplitude (Pz channel with visual stimulus, p = .050). Better performance was demonstrated in the neuropsychological tests of working memory in the control group: shorter time in TMT-B (intersample difference: 27 seconds) and better score in WMI-WAIS-IV (intersample difference: 1 point). Likewise, the median of their ERP latencies was lower and the N200-P300 amplitude was higher (intersample difference: 0.95 µV).

These intersample comparisons could be indicative of the bidirectional influence of motor ability and cognitive performance, particularly related to working memory and psychomotor speed.