Search results for "Memory span"

Time processing in children with Tourette's syndrome.

2010

Background: Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterized by dysfunctional connectivity between prefrontal cortex and sub-cortical structures, and altered meso-cortical and/or meso-striatal dopamine release. Since time processing is also regulated by fronto-striatal circuits and modulated by dopaminergic transmission, we hypothesized that time processing is abnormal in TS. Methods: We compared time processing abilities between nine children with TS-only (i.e. without major psychiatric comorbidities) and 10 age-matched healthy children, employing a time reproduction task in which subjects actively reproduce different temporal intervals, and a time comparison task in which subjects judge whether a …

Reading–writing disorder in children with idiopathic epilepsy

2020

Abstract Several studies have documented learning disabilities (LDs) in subjects with epilepsy, who have been shown to be at greater risk of mild neuropsychological damage, with the consequent risk of academic failure. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the peculiarities of reading and writing disorders in subjects with idiopathic epilepsy. The reading and writing performance of 35 children affected by reading and writing disorders and idiopathic epilepsy (R/WD + E group) has been compared with the performance of 37 children with only reading and writing disorders (R/WD group). A comparison group of 22 typical developing healthy children (TDC group) was also included in the study…

A case study of Primary Progressive Aphasia: improvement on verbs after rTMS treatment.

2006

This case-report shows that high frequency repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (hf-rTMS), applied to the left prefrontal cortex, may improve the linguistic skills in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The patient's performance was evaluated on a battery of language production and memory span tasks, before and after two hf-rTMS treatments and one SHAM treatment. We observed a significant and lasting improvement of the patient's performance on verb production following the application of hf-rTMS versus Baseline and SHAM conditions. This finding suggests that hf-rTMS may directly strengthen the neural connections within an area of metabolic dysfunction and encourages the use of rTMS a…

Prenatal co-exposure to neurotoxic metals and neurodevelopment in preschool children: The Environment and Childhood (INMA) Project

2018

We sought to determine whether prenatal co-exposure to As, Cd, Hg, Mn, and Pb was associated with impaired neurodevelopment in preschool children from the Spanish Environment and Childhood (INMA) Project, using the placenta as exposure matrix. We measured metal levels in placenta tissue samples randomly selected from five of the seven population-based birth cohorts participating in the INMA Project, collected between 2000 and 2008. Neuropsychological assessment of cognitive and motor function was carried through the use of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) at the age of 4-5years. Data on placental metal levels, MSCA scores, and relevant covariates was available for 302 chil…

Training of Attention in Children With Low Arithmetical Achievement

2014

This study focuses on the role of attentional processes in arithmetical skills and examines if training of basic attentive skills may improve also working memory abilities reducing arithmetic difficulties. In order to study the efficacy of attentional treatment in arithmetic achievement and in enhancing working memory abilities a test-treatment-retest quasi experimental design was adopted. The research involved 14 children, attending fourth and fifth grades, with Arithmetical Learning Disabilities (ALD) assigned to experimental and control conditions. The numerical comprehension and calculation processes were assessed using the ABCA battery (Lucangeli, Tressoldi, & Fiore, 1998). Attenti…

Paired associate learning tasks and their contribution to reading skills

2016

Associative learning has been identified as one of several non-linguistic processes involved in reading acquisition. However, it has not been established whether it is an independent process that contributes to reading performance on its own or whether it is a process that is embedded in other linguistic skills (e.g., phonological awareness or phonological memory) and, therefore, contributing to reading performance indirectly. Research has shown that performance on tasks assessing associative learning, e.g., paired-associate learning (PAL) tasks, is lower in children with specific reading difficulties compared to typical readers. We explored the differential associations of two distinct ver…

Exploring working memory in children with low arithmetical achievement

2005

Abstract This research aimed at exploring the working memory functions in children with low arithmetical achievement and normal reading, compared to age matched controls (mean age 9 years). All the children completed a series of working memory tasks, involving the central executive functions (using both linguistic and numerical material), the phonological loop (using words, pseudo-words and digits) and the visual sketchpad (using both static visual-spatial patterns and visual-spatial sequences). Results indicated that poor arithmeticians performed worse than age-matched controls in all the visual sketchpad tasks and in all the central executive tasks, whether they used linguistic or numeric…

2021

Background: Normal aging is associated with working memory decline. A decrease in working memory performance is associated with age-related changes in functional activation patterns in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Cognitive training can improve cognitive performance in healthy older adults. We implemented a cognitive training study to assess determinants of generalization of training gains to untrained tasks, a key indicator for the effectiveness of cognitive training. We aimed to investigate the association of resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of DLPFC with working memory performance improvement and cognitive gains after the training.Method: A sample of 60 healthy o…

Cognitive skills among Nepalese child labourers

2001

The cognitive skills of 61 Nepalese 10-14-year-old working children with at least 2 years working experience (WE) were compared to two groups of children, beginners (N = 29) with less than 1 year of WE and a school group (N = 104) matched for age and ethnic background. All the children (N = 194) were tested by the Bender test, WISC-R for Arithmetic, Digit Span, and the Word Fluency test. The main results showed that the school group was better in all the cognitive tests, except for Digit Span Backwards, where the working group had the highest average score. The second main finding shows no major differences in cognitive skills between the beginner and working groups. However, the work exper…

The Effect of an enriched sport program on children's executive functions: the ESA program

2020

Purpose: The effects of physical exercise on executive functions (EFs) are well documented. EFs are involved in daily activities, and their development determines the quality of people’s future life, both in terms of mental health and quality of life. The purpose of the current paper is to evaluate the effects of a physical education program, elaborated within the Enriched Sports Activity Program (ESA Program), an Erasmus + Project, on EFs, namely, visuospatial working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and task switching. Method: Data were collected on November 2017 (t1) and May 2018 (t2). At t1, a sample of 357 children from four European countries (Italy, Germany, Lithuan…