Table 2 Studies Examining STM Skills in Individuals with DS Organized by Age Group and Presented Chronologically
| Study | Comparison Group | Matching Assessment | CA of DS Group (Yrs) | MA of DS Group | Tasks | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia-Naranjo 2017 [83] | CA & MA-matched FXS | K-BIT | M=4.29 | -- |
Verbal and Visual STM
1
Story Recall Object Recall |
DS< FXS DS< FXS |
| School Age and Adolescent Studies (6 to 17 years old) | ||||||
| Study | Comparison Group | Matching Assessment | CA of DS Group (Yrs) | MA of DS Group | Tasks | Findings |
| Dodd 1975 [166] | ID | -- | M=9.1 | -- |
Verbal STM
Real & Nonsense Word Discrimination (0, 15, and 30 second delays) | DS>ID - Recognition on 0 and 30 sec delay; DS<ID Recall on 15 and 30 sec delay |
| McDade 1980 [167] |
CA-matched TD MA-matched TD | SB | M~10 |
Range= 3.5 – 5.5 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall Verbal Recognition Test (forced choice recognition on a word recall task) |
DS < TD-MA < TD-CA DS < TD-CA; DS ~ TD-MA |
| Strattford 1982 [168] | TD & ID | SB & PPVT |
M=10.6 (SD=3.92) | M=4.9 |
Visual STM Immediate design reproduction | DS < TD; DS~ID |
| Snart 1982 [169] |
ID group & IQ-matched TBI |
SB WISC-R |
M=16.3 DS & control (Range = 9-22) | -- |
Verbal STM
Auditory Serial Recall | DS< ID and TBI on successive auditory recall factor score |
| Marcell 1988 [170] |
VMA-matched TD ID group | PPVT | M=16.75 | M=4.89 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span – Auditory Freefield (traditional) Auditory presentation with headphones Auditory presentation with participants wearing goggles (to reduce distraction) Visual/Verbal STM Digits presented visually, recalled orally |
DS< TD-MA, ID DS< TD-MA, ID DS< TD-MA, ID DS~ TD-MA, ID |
| Bower 1994 [88] | IQ and CA matched ID | -- | Range=5-18 | M=4.6 |
Verbal STM
Digit Recall Sentence Recall |
DS < ID DS < ID |
| Kay-Raining 1994 [171] | MA-matched TD | SB | M=14 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall | DS < TD-MA | |
| Wang 1994 [89] | IQ & CA matched WS group | WISC-R | M=15.4 | -- |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Corsi Block Recall |
DS < WS DS > WS |
| Cornish 1999 [95] |
CA-matched TD, MA-matched TD, FXS | -- | M=10.82 (SD=1.89) | M=5.10 (SD=1.21) |
Visual STM
K-ABC Spatial Memory Task | DS < FXS, TD-CA& TD-MA |
| Munir 2000 [58] | MA-matched TD, CA-matched TD and FXS | BPVS | M= 11.17 (2.49) | M=6.09 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Children’s Nonword Repetition Task WISC-III Forward Digit Span Kaufman Spatial Location Recall |
DS >FXS; DS ~ TD-MA & TD-CA DS ~ FXS; DS <TD-MA & TD-CA DS > FXS; DS < TD MA & TD-CA |
| Seung 2000 [26] |
NVMA-matched TD MLU controls | SB NV subtests for NVMA TD group |
M=16.4 (Range=9-24) | M=5.58 |
Verbal STM
ITPA Forward Digit Span Length |
DS < TD-NVMA DS ~ MLU |
| Kanno 2002 [172] | TD (with similar MA) | -- |
M=16.10 (SD=1.64) | M=6.02 |
Verbal STM
Serial Recall of words | DS < TD-MA |
| Jarrold 2002 [49] |
ID group VMA-matched TD | BPVS |
M=14.28 (Range=8-17) | M=5.09 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Recall +/- visual support Corsi Span Recall |
DS < Combined ID & TD-VMA comparison group DS ~ Combined ID & TD-VMA comparison group |
| Laws 2002 [147] | VMA-matched TD | BPVS-II | M=11.1 (Range=7-17) | M=4.0 |
Verbal, Visual, & Spatial STM
Digit Span Recall Corsi Span Recall Color Memory |
DS < TD-VMA DS > TD-VMA DS< TD-VMA on focal colors DS ~ TD-VMA on non-focal colors |
| Byrne 2002 [60] |
Reading Matched TD Average readers TD | BAS Word Reading | M=8 | M=6.3 |
Verbal & Visual STM
BAS Digit Recall BAS Immediate Visual Recall |
DS < TD-RM < TD-AR DS < TD-RM & TD-AR |
| Eadie 2002 [127] |
SLI group TD group matched on MLU | -- | M=7.2 | -- |
Verbal STM
Sentence repetition | DS < TD-MLU; DS ~ SLI |
| Pennington 2003 [9] | MA-matched TD | DAS |
M=14 (Range=11-19) | M=4.5 |
Verbal STM
Digit Recall | DS <TD-MA |
| Vicari 2004 [96] | MA-matched TD; MA & CA matched WS | SB |
M=13.4 (SD=4.4) | M=5.2 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Forward Span Test Spatial Forward Span Test |
DS < WS; DS < TD-MA DS ~ WS; DS < TD-MA |
| Lanfranchi 2004 Study 1 [115] | MA-matched TD | Logical Operations Test |
M=11.75 (Range = 7-16) | M=5.42 |
Verbal STM
Word Span Recall | DS < TD-MA |
| Lanfranchi 2004 Study 2 [115] | MA-matched TD | Logical Operations Test |
M=14.5 (Range= 11-18) | M=4.5 |
Visual STM
Memory for Positions Pathway Forwards (recall of sequenced moves) |
DS ~ TD-MA DS ~ TD-MA |
| Seung 2004 [174] | MA-matched TD, MLU | -- |
M=17.1 (SD=4.4) | M=5.8 |
Verbal STM
SB Sentence memory subtest |
DS < TD MA DS ~ MLU |
| Fidler 2005 [173] | NV IQ-matched ID | K-BIT |
M=13.25 (Range=7-21) | --- |
Verbal STM
Number Sequential Recall | DS<ID |
| Brock 2005 [175] |
TD group Groups similar on BPVS, though not explicitly matched | -- |
M=17.6 (Range=8-25) | M=7.1 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span recall Digit Reconstruction recall (pointing to numbers) |
DS<TD DS<TD |
| Cairns 2005 [176] | VMA-matched TD | BPVS |
M=15.43 (Range=12-19) | M=5.16 |
Verbal STM
Word & Nonword Repetition Digit Span Recall |
DS<TD-VMA DS<TD-VMA |
| Hick 2005 [177] |
NVMA-matched SLI NVMA-matched TD | Leiter | M=9.75 | M=4.5 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Recall Word Span Recall Pattern Recall |
DS < TD-NVMA, DS ~SLI DS < TD-NVMA, DS ~ SLI DS~SLI~TD-NVMA Verbal STM Tasks – SLI made progress over time that was not seen in DS |
| Vicari 2006 [178] | MA-matched TD | SB |
M=15.83 (SD=5.66) | M=5.16 |
Visual & Spatial STM
Spatial Location Span Visual Span |
DS < TD-MA DS < TD-MA |
| Visu-Petra 2007 [120] | MA-matched TD | SB |
M=14 (R=8-21) | M=5.75 |
Spatial STM
CANTAB Spatial Span Task | DS ~ TD-MA (TD-MA> DS trend) |
| Keller-Bell 2007 [179] | NVMA-matched TD | Columbia Mental Maturity Scale |
M=9.40 (Range=5-12) | M=4.65 |
Verbal STM
Nonword Repetition task | DS < TD-NVMA |
| Lanfranchi, 2009 [142] | MA-matched TD | PPVT-Revised and RCM |
M=12.5 (Range=7-17) | M=6.0 |
Visual STM
Pathway Recall Positions Recall |
DS ~ TD-MA DS < TD-MA |
| Frenkel 2009 [87] | MA-matched TD | K-ABC |
M=12 (Range=6-17) | M=5.01 |
Verbal, & Spatial STM
Auditory Word Span Task Visual Patterns Task Corsi Block Recall Task |
DS < TD-MA DS < TD-MA DS ~ TD-MA |
| Kogan 2009 [97] |
FXS group VMA-matched TD CA-matched TD | PPVT- III |
M=17.16 (Range=11-36) | M=6.35 |
Visual & Spatial STM
Delayed-non-matching-to-sample Delayed-non-matching-to-position (spatial) |
DS~FXS~TD-VMA DS ~ FXS; DS < TD-CA |
| Cardoso-Martins 2009 [180] | MA-matched TD | DAS | M=14.48 | -- |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Corsi Blocks Recall |
DS< TD-MA DS~TD-MA |
| Lanfranchi 2009 [117] |
VMA matched TD Verbal matched TD |
PPVT-R and WPPSI Verbal |
M=13.1 (Range=8-19) | M=4.11 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Word Span Path Recall |
DS< TD-VMA & TD-verbal matched DS~TD-VMA & TD-verbal matched |
| Abdelhameed 2010 [181] | MA-matched TD | SB-4 |
M=9.94 (Range=7-13) | M=3.94 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall Nonword Repetition |
DS < TD-MA DS < TD-MA on all syllable lengths |
| Carretti 2010 [182] | MA-matched TD | PPVT |
M=7.6 (SD=2.2) | M=5.2 |
Visual STM
Spatial Recall – Structured Pattern Spatial Recall – Random Pattern |
DS < TD-MA DS < TD-MA |
| Edgin 2010 [25] | IQ matched WS group | WASI |
M=17.8 (Range=13-23) | -- |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Recall Corsi Block Recall |
DS<WS DS > WS |
| Duarte 2011 [183] |
MA-matched TD VMA-TD | PPVT |
M=12.5 (Range=7-18) | M=4.0 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Recall Corsi Span Task |
DS < TD-MA & TD-VMA DS < TD-MA; DS ~TD-VMA Also manipulated input & output (verbal vs. visual) of information to be recalled in novel tasks & added spatial support to a visual task. Reported that DS group showed similar performance in pure verbal and verbal-visual tasks. DS group did perform better on visual task with additional spatial support. |
| Costanzo 2013 [90] |
WS group NVMA-matched TD |
Leiter-Revised or SB (1 child matched with SB, all others matched on Leiter-R) |
M=14.5 (Range=8-21) | M=6.2 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Digit Span Recall Nonword Repetition Corsi Span Task |
DS < WS & TD-NVMA DS < WS & TD- NVMA DS & WS < TD- NVMA; DS ~ WS |
| Carney 2013 [92] |
WS group TD participants with similar MA | SB Abbreviated Battery |
M=14.5 (Range=10-21) | M=6.0 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Word List Recall Block Recall |
DS~WS~TD DS ~ TD; DS & TD> WS DS Group– Visuospatial > Verbal |
| Carretti 2013 [94] | VMA-matched TD | PPVT-Revised |
M=14.17 (Range=9-17) | M=5.17 |
Spatial STM
Spatial-Sequential Test Spatial-Simultaneous Test |
DS ~ TD-VMA DS < TD-VMA |
| Lanfranchi 2014 [93] | MA-matched TD | Logical Operations Test |
M=15.66 (SD=3.08) | M=5.75 |
Visual STM
Picture Span Recall | DS < TD-MA |
| Naess 2015 [85] |
NVMA-matched TD | WPPSI Block Design |
M=6.32 (Range=5-6) | -- |
Verbal STM
Sentence Memory Nonword Repetition |
DS < TD-NVMA DS < TD- NVMA |
| Lanfranchi 2015 [184] | MA-matched TD |
PPVT-Revised RCM |
M=14.17 (Range=9-17) | M=5.17 |
Spatial STM
Patterned Spatial Recall Random Spatial Recall |
DS < TD-MA DS ~ TD-MA |
| Loveall 2016 [185] |
TD & ID with similar NVMA (measured with the Leiter-R) | M=14.91 | M=5.35 |
Verbal STM
Nonword repetition | DS < TD-NVMA & ID group | |
| Danielsson 2016 [91] |
MA-matched WS MA-matched TD | SB-abbrev. |
M=14.6 (Range=10-21) | M=5.9 |
Verbal & Spatial STM
Word List Recall Block Recall |
DS ~WS; DS & WS < TD-MA DS >WS; DS ~ TD-MA |
| Heimann 2016 [61] |
TD Language matched ASD | -- |
M=5.25 (SD=1.03) | M=2.63 |
Visual STM
Immediate Elicited Imitation | DS > ASD; DS~TD |
| Adult and Older adult studies (18 years and older) | ||||||
| Study | Comparison Group | Matching Assessment | CA of DS Group (Yrs) | MA of DS Group | Tasks | Findings |
| Dalton 1974 [159] | Young & Old ID | -- | Young M= 20.9 Intermediate M=41.7 | -- |
Verbal STM
Digit Span | Young & Intermediate DS < Old ID |
| Thase 1984 [186] | ID | -- |
M=37.1 (SD=10.4) | -- |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Delayed Matching to Sample |
DS < ID DS < ID |
| Huang 1987 [109] | CA & MA matched ID | -- | M=38.65 | -- |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Picture recall |
DS ~ ID Adults with DS were more likely to recall a picture in a series of black and white pictures orally if it was in color. |
| Varnhagen 1987 [64] | CA & IQ matched ID group | SB |
M=22.70 (Range=19-25) | M=4.78 |
Verbal STM
Auditory Span Recall | DS~ID, but DS group had marginally worse lexical access and did not demonstrate acoustic similarity effect seen in ID group |
| Marcell 1988 [84] |
ID group VMA-matched TD | PPVT | M=18.12 | M=4.98 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall (with presentation [auditory vs. visual] and recall [oral vs. manual] differences) |
DS< TD-VMA; DS~ID on overall performance collapsed across conditions DS< ID on auditory recall (collapsed across output conditions) TD-VMA & ID: Auditory > Visual Performance DS: Auditory ~ Visual Performance |
| Marcell 1992 [187] | IQ-matched ID group | SB | M=18.84 | -- |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall Sentence Recall |
DS < ID DS < ID |
| Devenny 1992 [161] |
ID < 35 ID > 35 | -- |
<35 M=31.7 >35 M=41.8 | -- |
Visual STM
Visual Memory Test | >35 DS showed greater decreases in performance at 5 and 10 second delays compared to their performance at 0 second delays than any other participant group |
| Marcell 1995 [188] | CA & IQ matched ID | SB | M = 18.83 (SD=3.33) | -- |
Verbal STM
Sentence Repetition Digit Span |
DS < ID on number of sentences repeated and number of words recalled across sentences DS < ID |
| Devenny 1996 [65] |
Young DS (CA 30-39) Middle-Aged DS (CA 40-49) Older DS (CA 50+) ID group with similar IQ & Age | Subtests of WISC-R used to estimate IQ |
Young DS M=37 Middle-Aged DS M=45 Older DS M=55 |
Visual LTM
Delayed Match to Sample |
Participants tested at 6 time points across 5 years
DS~ID, but DS showed decrements with increased delay Young ~ Middle-Aged ~ Older DS *Note: This study focused on a more mildly impacted subgroup of adults with DS | |
| Vicari 2000 [36] | MA-matched TD | SB | M=21 | M=6.5 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Word List Recall Word Recognition Picture Recognition |
DS<TD-MA DS<TD-MA DS<TD-MA |
| Natsopoulos 2002 [189] | VMA-matched TD | WPPSI-R Information, Vocabulary & Similarities subtest |
M=30.6 (Range=19-39) | -- |
Verbal STM
Sentence Repetition | DS < TD-VMA |
| Brock 2004 [99] | TD group with similar BPVS MA, but not explicitly matched | -- |
M=18.5 (Range=12-25) | M=7.7 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall Word and Nonword Order & Item Recall Memory |
DS < TD DS < TD |
| Kittler 2004 [190] | IQ-Matched ID | WAIS-R or SB | M=44.8 |
M=6.57 (PPVT-R) |
Verbal STM
Word List Recall | DS < ID on all lists except phonologically similar words; semantic similarity of words reduced DS performance only |
| Purser 2005 [107] | TD group with similar NVMA | -- | M=19.78 | M=8.02 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Word List Recall Picture Location Recall |
DS < TD DS ~ TD |
| Kittler 2006 [102] | IQ and VMA-matched ID group | WAIS-R and PPVT | M=44.3 | M=6.52 |
Verbal STM
Word List Recall | DS < ID |
| Kittler 2008 [103] | MA- matched WS and ID group | -- |
M=44.7 (SD=7.2) | -- |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Word Span Corsi Span |
DS < WS; DS ~ ID DS < WS & ID DS > ID and DS>~WS (p=.057) |
| Jarrold 2009 [191] | TD group with similar NVMA | -- |
M=20.82 (Range=14-29) |
M=7.33 (PPVT) |
Verbal STM
Serial Recall Serial Recognition |
DS < TD DS < TD |
| Lee 2010 [98] | VMA-matched TD | PPVT |
M=19.18 (Range=11-25) | M=6.95 |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall | DS < TD-VMA |
| Mosse 2011 [192] | VMA-matched TD | BPVS |
M=19.5 (Range=9-28) | -- |
Verbal STM
Immediate serial recall | DS < TD-VMA |
| Roch 2012 [122] | Reading comprehension matched TD (CAM) | Standardized test of reading comprehension (administered collectively) |
M~18.5 (Range=11-26) | -- |
Verbal STM
Sequential word recall Sequential word recall with visual presentation |
DS < TD-CAM DS ~ TD-CAM |
| Michael 2012 [193] | VMA-matched TD | PPVT-4th Edition |
M=18.9 (Range=11-32) | -- |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall Word Span Recall Sentence Memory Nonverbal Digit Span Recall Nonverbal Word Span Recall Nonverbal Spatial Memory (*Nonverbal tasks involved pointing to answers on page) |
DS~TD-VMA DS~ TD-VMA DS< TD-VMA DS~ TD-VMA DS~ TD-VMA DS~TD-VMA |
| Purser 2013 [100] |
NVMA- matched TD VMA-matched TD | BPVS- II, RCM |
M=19.4 (Range=13-26) |
M= 7.9 (BPVS-II) |
Verbal STM
Word List recognition | DS < TD-NVMA & TD-VMA |
| Smith 2014 [101] | VMA-matched TD | BPVS-II |
M=20 (Range=9-30) | -- |
Verbal STM
Word Recall Word Order Recall |
DS < TD-VMA DS < TD-VMA |
| Belacchi 2014 [108] | NVMA and SES matched TD | RCM |
M=18.8 (Range=15-29) | MA~5.5 |
Verbal & Visual STM
Word Recall Spatial-simultaneous Recall |
DS< TD-NVMA DS ~ TD-NVMA |
| Stavroussi 2016 [104] | CA & VMA ID group | PPVT-R |
M=33.92 (Range=26-38) | -- |
Verbal STM
Digit Span Recall | DS ~ ID |
| Reid 2017 [105] | Cornelia de Lange Syndrome group (CdLS) | -- |
M= 24.38 (SD=5.82) | M=6.29 (BPVS) |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Corsi Span |
DS > CdLS DS > CdLS |
| Within DS Group Comparisons of Older Adults | ||||||
| Study | Comparison Group | Matching Assessment | CA of DS Group (Yrs) | MA of DS Group | Tasks | Findings |
| Haxby 1989 [163] |
Under 35 DS 35+ DS (4 with dementia) | -- |
Under 35 M=26 (Range=19-34) 35+ non-demented M=48 (Range=37-54) 35+ demented M=57 (Range= 47-64) |
Under 35 M= 6.1 35+ non-demented M=4.3 35+ demented M=2.5 (SB used to measure MA) |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Recall Block Tapping Span Object Pointing Span |
35+ demented < 35+ nondemented & Under 35 35+ demented < Under 35 on Block Tapping Span & Object Pointing Span |
| Alexander 1997 [66] |
Young DS (CA 22-39) Old DS (CA 40-61) without dementia | -- |
Young DS M=30.1 Old DS M=47.4 |
Young DS M=5.7 Old DS M=4.7 (SB used to measure MA) |
Verbal & Visual STM
Digit Span Recall Hidden object Memory Recall Block Tapping Span |
Old DS ~ Young DS Old DS ~ Young DS Old DS < Young DS |
| Crayton 1998 [72] |
Young DS (CA Under 40) Middle-Aged DS (CA 40-49) Older DS (CA 50+) | -- | -- |
M =4.8 (for whole group on BPVS) |
Visual STM
Matching to Sample | Young DS ~ Middle-Aged DS ~ Older DS |