Title :

The development of route learning in Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and typical development: investigations with virtual environments

Author(s) :

Purser, Harry R. M. [Auteur]
Farran, Emily K [Auteur]
Courbois, Yannick [Auteur]
Psychologie : Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition (PSITEC) - ULR 4072 [PSITEC]
Lemahieu, Axelle [Auteur]
SOCKEEL, Pascal [Auteur]
Mellier, Daniel [Auteur]
Blades, Mark [Auteur]

Journal title :

Developmental science

Volume number :

18

Pages :

599-613

Publication date :

2015

ISSN :

1467-7687

English abstract : [en]

The ability to navigate new environments has a significant impact on the daily life and independence of people with learning difficulties. The aims of this study were to investigate the development of route learning in ...
Show more >The ability to navigate new environments has a significant impact on the daily life and independence of people with learning difficulties. The aims of this study were to investigate the development of route learning in Down syndrome (N = 50), Williams syndrome (N = 19), and typically developing children between 5 and 11 years old (N = 108); to investigate use of landmarks; and to relate cognitive functions to route-learning ability in these groups. Overall, measures of attention and long-term memory were strongly associated with route learning, even once non-verbal ability was controlled for. All of the groups, including 5- to 6-year-old TD children, demonstrated the ability to make use of all landmark types to aid route learning; those near junctions, those further from junctions, and also distant landmarks (e.g. church spire, radio mast). Individuals with WS performed better than a matched subset of TD children on more difficult routes; we suggest that this is supported by relatively strong visual feature recognition in the disorder. Participants with DS who had relatively high levels of non-verbal ability performed at a similar level to TD participants.Show less >

Audience :

Non spécifiée

Popular science :

Non

Administrative institution(s) :

Université de Lille

Collections :

• Psychologie : Interactions, Temps, Émotions, Cognition (PSITEC) - ULR 4072

Research team(s) :

Développement & Handicap

Submission date :

2020-09-14T10:33:33Z