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Difficulties in working memory updating in individuals with intellectual disability
Author(s) -
Carretti B.,
Belacchi C.,
Cornoldi C.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01267.x
Subject(s) - working memory , fluid intelligence , psychology , intellectual disability , fluid and crystallized intelligence , task (project management) , intelligence quotient , memory span , typically developing , developmental psychology , cognition , executive functions , mental age , cognitive psychology , short term memory , raven's progressive matrices , weakness , autism , medicine , psychiatry , management , anatomy , economics
Background Despite the critical role attributed to working memory (WM) updating for executive functions and fluid intelligence, no research has yet been carried out on its specific role in the vital case of fluid intelligence weakness, represented by individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Furthermore, the relationship between updating and other WM functions has not been considered in depth. Method The current study examines these areas by proposing a battery of WM tasks (varying in degree of active attentional control requested) and one updating task to groups of ID individuals and typically developing children, matched for fluid intelligence performance. Results Comparison between the group of ID individuals and a group of children showed that, despite being matched on the Raven test, the updating measure significantly differentiated the groups as well as the WM complex span. Furthermore, updating proved to be the task with the greatest power in discriminating between groups. Conclusions Our results confirm the importance of the demand for active attentional control in explaining the role of WM in fluid intelligence performance, and in particular show that updating information in WM plays an important role in the distinction between typically developing children and ID individuals.