Abstract
Purpose: :
To examine the possibility of visual memory impairment in patients with DMD.
Methods: :
Visual memory tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were administered to 37 DMD patients and 16 controls. The age range for participants was from 6 to 26 years. The tests included measures of working memory (Spatial Span, forward and reverse), short and long term visual memory (Pattern Recognition Memory), recognition memory for complex visual stimuli presented simultaneously or after short interval (Delayed Matching to Sample), and spatial short term memory (Spatial Recognition Memory). The participants had intellectual scores in the normal range according to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale or the Raven’s Matrices Test.
Results: :
DMD patients performed significantly worse on Spatial Span for both forward and reverse recall, on the latency for correct choices in Delayed Matching to Sample, and on the number of correct trials on Spatial Recognition Memory (1-way ANOVA, p<0.05). There were no significant differences between groups on Pattern Recognition Memory and Delayed Matching to Sample correct responses.
Conclusions: :
Visual spatial memory was impaired in DMD patients. The results raise the question if decreased span capacity in DMD is specific to verbal skills or could reflect impairment in visual pathways. There seem to be general working memory deficits, and slowed information processing, but no impaired storage capacity. Further analysis should clarify if reduced performance on visual spatial memory task is related to the visual span deficit.
Keywords: memory • learning • genetics