The effect of visual arrangement on visuospatial short-term memory: Insights from children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

ABSTRACT

Recent models of visuospatial (VSSP) short-term memory postulate the existence of two dissociable mechanisms depending on whether VSSP information is presented simultaneously or sequentially. However, they do not specify to what extent VSSP short-term memory is under the influence of general VSSP processing. This issue was examined in people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a genetic condition involving a VSSP deficit. The configuration of VSSP information was manipulated (structured vs. unstructured) to explore the impact of arrangement on VSSP short-term memory. Two presentation modes were used to see whether the VSSP arrangement has the same impact on simultaneous and sequential short-term memory. Compared to children matched on chronological age, children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome showed impaired performance only for structured arrangement, regardless of the presentation mode, suggesting an influence of VSSP processing on VSSP short-term memory abilities. A revised cognitive architecture for a model of VSSP short-term memory is proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Short-term memory
• visuospatial processing
• 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In a recent discussion on the typology of spatial skills, Uttal et al. (2013) proposed that spatial skills may be characterized along two fundamental dimensions. The first concerns the nature of the to-be-processed spatial information and distinguishes between intrinsic (i.e., spatial relations between the parts of an object) and extrinsic spatial information (i.e., spatial relation between the elements in a set). The second dimension bears on the task at hand and differentiates between static and dynamic information depending on whether VSSP relationships change or not during the task.

2 Note that for four pairs of children, the IQ battery was not the same between the pair. This was because the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome children were in the age range (6–8 years) that straddled the two IQ tests, WPPSI and WISC. This led to limitations for those children in completing the second battery.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique–FNRS [grant number T.0163.14].