Mental rotation ability and everyday-life spatial activities in individuals with Down syndrome.
Although certain visuospatial abilities, such as mental rotation, are crucially important in everyday activities, they have been little explored in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). This study investigates: i) mental rotation ability in individuals with DS; and ii) its relation to cognitive abilities and to everyday spatial activities. Forty-eight individuals with DS and 48 typically-developing (TD) children, matched on measures of vocabulary and fluid intelligence, were compared on their performance in a rotation task that involved detecting which of two figures would fit into a hole if rotated (five angles of rotation were considered: 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°). Participants were also assessed on their visuospatial and verbal cognitive abilities, and on their parents and/or educators reports regarding their everyday spatial activities. Results showed that: (i) individuals with DS were less accurate in mental rotation than TD children, with larger differences between the groups for smaller angles of rotation; individuals with DS could not mentally rotate through 180°, while TD children could; (ii) mental rotation ability was related to fluid intelligence and to spatial activities (though other cognitive abilities are also involved in the latter) to a similar degree in the DS group and the matched TD children. These results are discussed with regard to the atypical development domain and spatial cognition models.
['Meneghetti|Chiara|C|', 'Toffalini|Enrico|E|', 'Carretti|Barbara|B|', 'Lanfranchi|Silvia|S|']
D000293:Adolescent D001076:Aptitude D002648:Child D003071:Cognition D004314:Down Syndrome D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007807:Language Tests D008297:Male D008570:Memory, Short-Term D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D065854:Spatial Navigation D013647:Task Performance and Analysis D014825:Vocabulary
Mental rotation Everyday-life spatial activities Down syndrome