concept of working memory is ubiquitous in research concerned with temporary storage and on-line processing in humans and animals. The replacement by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) of the concept of short-term memory focused largely on retention of word lists, with the broader concept of a multiple component working memory, was remarkable in redefining a major area of scientific endeavour. It has be...

24 Although intermixing different motor learning tasks via random schedules enhances long-term 25 retention compared to “blocked” schedules, the mechanism underlying this contextual interference effect 26 has been unclear. Furthermore, previous studies have reported inconclusive results in individuals post27 stroke. 28 29 We instructed participants to learn to produce three grip force patterns ...

Down syndrome (DS) is associated with extreme difficulty in verbal skills and relatively better visuo-spatial skills. Indeed, visuo-spatial ability is often considered a strength in DS. However, it is not clear whether this strength is only relative to the poor verbal skills, or, more impressively, relative to cognitive ability in general. To answer this question, we conducted an extensive lite...

Accumulating evidence in humans demonstrates that visuo-spatial deficits are the most consistently reported cognitive abnormalities in Parkinson's disease (PD). Ezrin, radixin, and moesin are collectively known as ERM proteins. Although ERM proteins have important implications in cell-shape determination and relevant signaling pathway, they have not been studied in the hippocampus in associatio...

Abstract The aim of the present study was to test environmental and cognitive variables as possible cross-domain predictors early literacy numeracy skills. One hundred forty-eight preschool children (mean age = 64.36 months ± 3.33) were enrolled in study. battery included a home questionnaire, measures phonological visuo-spatial working memory, tasks tapping response inhibition, (vocabulary, aw...

This study examines when external auditive noise can enhance performance in a dichotic listening and a visuo-spatial working memory task. Noise is typically conceived of as being detrimental for cognitive performance; however, given the mechanism of stochastic resonance (SR), a certain amount of noise can benefit performance. In particular we predict that low performers will be aided by noise w...

A longitudinal comparison was made between development of verbal and visuo-spatial short-term memory and vocabulary in children with Down syndrome (DS), children with specific language impairment (SLI), and typically developing children as a control group. Participants were 12 children with DS (6 males, 6 females; mean chronological age 9y 9mo [SD 2.8 mo], range 8y 6mo to 11y 4mo); nine childre...

The contribution of the three core components of working memory (WM) to the development of mathematical skills in young children is poorly understood. The relation between specific WM components and Numerical Operations, which emphasize computation and fact retrieval, and Mathematical Reasoning, which emphasizes verbal problem solving abilities in 48 2nd and 50 3rd graders was assessed using st...

Finger gnosis, the ability to mentally represent one’s fingers, predicts numeracy in children (Penner-Wilger et al., 2007, 2009) and adults (Penner-Wilger et al., 2014, 2015). It has been argued that the relation may reflect visuo-spatial memory, rather than finger gnosis ability per se. This rival hypothesis was not supported in adults (Penner-Wilger et al., 2015), but here we examined it in c...