The impact of attentional constraints on shaping early cognitive trajectories: looking through the lens of neurodevelopmental disorders?
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1
Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Australia
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2
University of Oxford, Department of Experimental Psychology, United Kingdom
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3
Birkbeck, University of London, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, United Kingdom
Background: In typical development, attention is often construed as a gateway to learning and memory. Disruption to this essential process can lead to widespread chaos across a number of emerging cognitive systems. To what extent attention difficulties in children with genetic neurodevelopmental disorders impact on cognitive learning remains unclear. We addressed this question both concurrently and longitudinally in a cross syndrome design, with respect to children with Down syndrome and Williams syndrome.
Methods: A total of 26 children with Williams syndrome, and 26 Down syndrome matched on MA to 78 typically developing control children completed a battery of tasks designed to assess attentional processes in early childhood. In addition, we mapped the children’s emerging numeracy and literacy.
Results: The two syndrome groups differed in their attentional profiles, with children with WS displaying in particular impulsive responding, indicative of executive attention difficulties, whereas children with DS struggled to sustain attention. For children with DS, individual differences in attentional processes predicted outcomes in literacy and numeracy in a way that mirrored TD children, both concurrently and longitudinally, despite their severe developmental delay. These relationships were weaker and atypical in children with WS.
Discussion: In summary our findings point to the importance of studying different attentional constraints on outcomes in the classroom in children with distinct neurodevelopmental disorders.
Keywords:
Neurodevelopmental disorders,
Attention,
Williams Syndrome,
Downs Syndrome,
impulsiveness
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral
Topic:
Attention
Citation:
Cornish
K,
Scerif
G and
Karmiloff-Smith
AD
(2013). The impact of attentional constraints on shaping early cognitive trajectories: looking through the lens of neurodevelopmental disorders?.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00016
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Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Kim Cornish, Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Clayton, Australia, kim.cornish@monash.edu