Spatial navigational impairments in hydrocephalus.

Smith AD, Buckley MG. (2012)  Spatial navigational impairments in hydrocephalus. Cognitive Processing. 2012 Jul 18.

 

School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK, alastair.smith@nottingham.ac.uk.

Abstract

Whilst much is known about the neuropathological consequences of hydrocephalus, there have been comparatively few studies of the cognitive impairments associated with it. Studies using standardised tests of cognitive function have identified a general pattern of impairments, with patients exhibiting particular difficulty on tests of spatial memory and executive function. A strong prediction is that these deficits are likely to affect daily wayfinding behaviour, and we report a study of spatial and navigational abilities in a group of patients with hydrocephalus but without spina bifida. Participants completed a range of experimental tasks assessing spatial cueing behaviour, landmark memory and route-learning, and idiothetic path integration. This patient group was compared to a control sample matched on verbal, spatial, and intelligence measures, and hydrocephalus was found to be associated with relative impairments in each of the tasks. Patients exhibited reduced sensitivity to spatial cueing, less accurate route-learning, poorer memory for landmark objects, and less accurate spatial updating (with particular impairments in the calculation of heading). Overall, these data represent the first empirical demonstration of navigational impairments in hydrocephalus, and we suggest some of the cognitive, neural, and individual differences factors that may contribute to the pattern of performance reported.

PMID:22806680

 

Spatial cognition and motor development: a study of children with spina bifida.

Jansen-Osmann P, Wiedenbauer G, Heil M.
Spatial cognition and motor development: a study of children with spina bifida.
Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2008 Apr;106(2):436-46.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between motor development and spatial cognition. The sample was 20 children with Spina bifida (M age: 11.4 yr., SD = 1.7) and 20 healthy children as controls (M age: 11.8, SD = 1.8 yr.). An experimental assessment of motor development in spatial cognition in a simulated virtual maze by school-age children is lacking. In this study children with Spina bifida, who were impaired in walking since birth, completed four visuospatial tasks in a small-scale space (Mental Rotation, Water-Level Task, Embedded Figures Test, Visual Short-term Memory Test), and a spatial behaviour and knowledge task in a virtual maze. These children showed poorer performance than children in the control group on most measures. The results are discussed with respect to theoretical implications and further research.

PMID: 18556900

Arithmetic processing in children with spina bifida: Calculation accuracy, strategy use, and fact retrieval fluency

Barnes MA, Wilkinson M, Khemani E, Boudesquie A, Dennis M, Fletcher JM. Arithmetic processing in children with spina bifida: Calculation accuracy, strategy use, and fact retrieval fluency. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2006 Mar-Apr;39(2):174-87.

Three studies compared 98 children with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM)-a disorder associated with high rates of math disability and spatial deficits-to 94 typically developing children on multidigit subtraction and cognitive addition tasks. Children with SBM were classified into those with reading decoding and math disability, only math disability, and no reading or math disability. Study 1 showed that visual-spatial errors in multidigit arithmetic were not elevated in children with SBM. In Study 2, deficits in accuracy, speed, and strategy-use in single-digit addition characterized groups with math disability regardless of reading status. Accuracy and speed on single-digit addition was strongly related to performance on multidigit subtraction. A math-level matching design in Study 3 revealed less mastery of math facts by the group with SBM. The results are discussed with reference to cognitive and neuropsychological models of math disability.

PMID: 16583797