Adaptations of the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) for 2- and 3-year-old preterm and term-born toddlers: A preliminary study

Abstract

IntroductionTopographical memory is crucial for navigation and environmental representation. The Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) has been used to evaluate topographical memory in children from 4 years upward. The present study aims to determine whether adapted versions of the WalCT- by simplifying instructions and increasing motivation- can be adopted to test topographical memory in 2- and 3-year-old toddlers born at term and preterm. Assessing this skill in such young children is important in light of recent studies that have shown how spatial cognition underlies the development of skills in other cognitive domains as well. Methods: For this purpose, 47 toddlers (27.39 ± 4.34 months, 38.3% females), 20 born at term and 27 preterm, performed two aimed-designed versions of WalCT.ResultsThe results showed better performance of the term groups with increasing age and for both versions. On the other hand, performance was better in 2-year-old term toddlers vs. preterm. When rising motivation, 2-year-old preterm toddlers improve their performance but differences between both groups were still significant. The preterm group showed lower performance related to lower levels of attention.DiscussionThis study provides preliminary data on the suitability of the adapted versions of WalCT in early ages and prematurity conditions.

Measuring spatial navigation during locomotion in children: A systematic review

“…The topographical delayed recall (reproduction after 5 min) was not affected. AWalCT TWalCT [ 26 ] 2.4 2 20 27 TD PT ___ ___ At two years old children showed topographical memory. Span is better with age and in TD children.…”

“…The four studies on infants found that spatial training emerges when infants start crawling but improves when they start walking. At 18 months, infants develop a self-reference system to compute the directions and distances of their movements and at two years old they have simple topographical memory strategies [ 26 , 34 , 57 , 71 ]. The six studies that included preschool participants found that spatial memory matures between two and three years of age.…”

“…However, reproducing a path after 5 min – which depends more on long-term memory – was unaffected. The preterm population shows lower performance in topographical memory, which is further affected by their level of attention [ 26 ] and spatial orientation [ 65 ].…”

“…Similarly, differences in spatial orientation [ 65 ] and spatial memory have been found in preterm populations, which are also influenced by attention. In fact, better outcomes were achieved when young children were asked to perform a more motivational task [ 26 ]. Although these studies described spatial memory outcomes in children with or at risk of NDD, they did not include specific motor measurements during navigational tasks and were not very informative about the relative influence of movement on spatial outcomes [ 31 , 33 , 53 , 58 , 65 , 87 ].…”

“…In addition, perceptual alterations can lead to difficulties in planning and guiding the motor behaviour in an organised way and changing the frame of reference from a body-centred one to one centred on external space [ [19] , [20] , [21] ]. Impact on spatial navigation performance has been also described in other populations at risk of NDD disorders, such as premature babies or children with problems of sustained attention, cognitive flexibility, and visuomotor and visuospatial memory [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] ].…”