Journal on Developmental Disabilities
Le journal sur les handicaps du développement

Spatial Coding for Items of Varying Semantic Value in Adults with or without Down Syndrome

Dominic A. Simon, Chris Watson, and Digby Elliott

Abstract

Spatial coding of adults with or without Down syndrome was assessed for arrays of more or less concrete objects. Individuals with Down syndrome, with undifferentiated developmental disabilities (UDDD), and from the general population (CONT) viewed sets of objects laid out for study on a board marked with a grid pattern. Following 15s of study, the objects were removed and participants were asked to replace the items as close to their original positions as they could. Four item types were used: everyday objects, coloured blocks, printed words, and nonsense shapes. Overall, persons in the Down syndrome and UDDD groups performed with greater average error than participants in the CONT group. As well, smaller errors were found for the real-world items than for the other item types. A group by object type interaction indicated that, unlike control participants, the people in the groups with developmental disabilities were more accurate in replacing real-world objects than they were for the other categories. In addition, individuals with Down syndrome showed a relative advantage for nonsense shapes when compared with individuals with UDDD. Contrary to research involving verbal coding, the persons with Down syndrome in this study group were not disadvantaged in recalling the spatial position of objects relative to other persons of a similar chronological and mental age.

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