Evidence for unusual spatial location coding in Williams syndrome: An explanation for the local bias in visuo-spatial construction tasks?

Farran, Emily K.; Jarrold, Christopher

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2005.05.011

Cited by 32 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this study, level of performance of the WS group most closely resembled that of a typical 4-year-old. This is younger than the level reached in the spatial relations tasks, which did not differ from matched controls of mean age 6;3 years (Farran & Jarrold, 2005). Thus, the current experiment shows some support for the prediction that the unusual bias Location memory and Williams syndrome 20 observed at perception is more detrimental to construction performance.…”

Section: Wssupporting

confidence: 63%

“…Location memory and Williams syndrome 4 Farran and Jarrold (2005) present further evidence for atypical location coding in WS. They investigated two types of spatial relations, using tasks adapted from Koenig, Reiss and Kosslyn (1990).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The use of boundaries and prototypes for coding spatial location seems to be atypical in WS (Farran & Jarrold, 2005). The biases observed in the tasks described by Farran and Jarrold (2005) can speculatively be explained in relation to fewer (coordinate task) or different (categorical task) category boundaries imposed by the WS group than the controls, which results in the employment of different category prototypes. Category boundaries and prototypes will be investigated systematically in this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Second, based on the pattern of between and within distance estimates for the WS group, one would predict similar displacement away from the quadrant centres across both the no wall and wall conditions, yet this was not the case. Farran and Jarrold (2005) report that the atypical pattern of biases in spatial relations tasks, which are perception tasks, might explain deficits in construction tasks that involve location memory. The current experiment has construction elements as individuals were asked to place objects in the correct locations.…”

Section: Wsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, visuo-spatial construction is an area of relative weakness. It has been hypothesised that poor or atypical location coding abilities contribute strongly to the impaired abilities observed on construction and drawing tasks (Farran & Jarrold, 2005;Hoffman, Landau & Pagani, 2003). The current experiment investigated location memory in WS.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Strategies and biases in location memory in Williams syndrome

Farran

2008

Research in Developmental Disabilities

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) demonstrate impaired visuo-spatial abilities in comparison to their level of verbal ability. In particular, visuo-spatial construction is an area of relative weakness. It has been hypothesised that poor or atypical location coding abilities contribute strongly to the impaired abilities observed on construction and drawing tasks (Farran & Jarrold, 2005;Hoffman, Landau & Pagani, 2003). The current experiment investigated location memory in WS. Specifically, the precision of remembered locations was measured as well as the biases and strategies that were involved in remembering those locations. A developmental trajectory approach was employed; WS performance was assessed relative to the performance of typically developing (TD) children ranging from 4-to 8-years-old. Results showed differential strategy use in the WS and TD groups.WS performance was most similar to the level of a TD 4-year-old and was additionally impaired by the addition of physical category boundaries. Despite their low level of ability, the WS group produced a pattern of biases in performance which pointed towards evidence of a subdivision effect, as observed in TD older children and adults. In contrast, the TD children showed a different pattern of biases, which appears to be explained by a normalisation strategy. In summary, individuals with WS do not process locations in a typical manner. This may have a negative impact on their visuo-spatial construction and drawing abilities.

show abstract

Section: Wssupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Wsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 96%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Strategies and biases in location memory in Williams syndrome

Farran

2008

Research in Developmental Disabilities

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Memory abilities in Williams syndrome: Dissociation or developmental delay hypothesis?

Sampaio

Sousa

Férnandez

et al. 2008

Brain and Cognition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder often described as being characterized by a dissociative cognitive architecture, in which profound impairments of visuo-spatial cognition contrast with relative preservation of linguistic, face recognition and auditory short-memory abilities. This asymmetric and dissociative cognition has been also proposed to characterize WS memory ability, with sparing of auditory short-term memory and impairment of spatial and long-term memory abilities. In this study, we explored the possibility of a double memory dissociation in WS (short- versus long-term memory; verbal versus visual memory). Thus, verbal memory abilities were assessed using California Verbal Learning Test and Digit Span and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure and Corsi Blocks was used to assess visual-spatial memory abilities. Overall, WS subjects were found to present a generalized significant impairment in verbal and visuo-spatial components either in short- or long-term memory. In sum, data from this study brings support for a developmental delay hypothesis, rather than a double dissociation within memory systems in WS.

show abstract

Perceptual grouping and distance estimates in typical and atypical development: Comparing performance across perception, drawing and construction tasks

Farran

Cole

2008

Brain and Cognition

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Perceptual grouping is a pre-attentive process which serves to group local elements into global wholes, based on shared properties. One effect of perceptual grouping is to distort the ability to estimate the distance between two elements. In this study, biases in distance estimates, caused by four types of perceptual grouping, were measured across three tasks, a perception, a drawing and a construction task in both typical development (TD; Experiment 1) and in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS; Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, perceptual grouping distorted distance estimates across all three tasks. Interestingly, the effect of grouping by luminance was in the opposite direction to the effects of the remaining grouping types. We relate this to differences in the ability to inhibit perceptual grouping effects on distance estimates. Additive distorting influences were also observed in the drawing and the construction task, which are explained in terms of the points of reference employed in each task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the above distortion effects are also observed in WS. Given the known deficit in the ability to use perceptual grouping in WS, this suggests a dissociation between the pre-attentive influence of and the attentive deployment of perceptual grouping in WS. The typical distortion in relation to drawing and construction points towards the presence of some typical location coding strategies in WS. The performance of the WS group differed from the TD participants on two counts. First, the pattern of overall distance estimates (averaged across interior and exterior distances) across the four perceptual grouping types, differed between groups. Second, the distorting influence of perceptual grouping was strongest for grouping by shape similarity in WS, which contrasts to a strength in grouping by proximity observed in the TD participants.

show abstract

Evidence for unusual spatial location coding in Williams syndrome: An explanation for the local bias in visuo-spatial construction tasks?

Cited by 32 publications

References 19 publications

Strategies and biases in location memory in Williams syndrome

Strategies and biases in location memory in Williams syndrome

Memory abilities in Williams syndrome: Dissociation or developmental delay hypothesis?

Perceptual grouping and distance estimates in typical and atypical development: Comparing performance across perception, drawing and construction tasks

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About