Devenny Darlynne A, Krinsky-McHale Sharon J, Kittler Phyllis M, Flory Michael, Jenkins Edmund, Brown W Ted
Department of Psychology, New York Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island 10314, USA.
Dev Neuropsychol. 2004;26(3):691-706. doi: 10.1207/s15326942dn2603_3.
Age-associated changes on measures of episodic and working memory were examined in 15 adults with Williams Syndrome (WS; M age = 48.3 years, SD = 14.7; M IQ = 62.9, SD = 8.5) and their performance was compared to that of 33 adults with mental retardation (MR) with unspecified etiologies (M age = 54.2 years, SD = 8.9; M IQ = 61.7, SD = 6.5). Among the group with WS, older adults were significantly poorer than younger adults on the free recall task, a measure of episodic memory. Although this finding is consistent with normal aging, it occurred at a chronologically early age in adults with WS and was not found in their peers with unspecified MR. Although both groups showed small declines with age on a backward digit span task, a measure of working memory, for the group with WS the rate of decline on backward digit span was slower as compared to their performance on the free recall task. The findings from this study indicate a chronologically early and precipitous age-associated decrease in long-term, episodic memory in adults with WS.
研究人员对15名患有威廉姆斯综合征（WS；平均年龄=48.3岁，标准差=14.7；平均智商=62.9，标准差=8.5）的成年人进行了情景记忆和工作记忆测量方面与年龄相关变化的研究，并将他们的表现与33名病因未明的智力障碍（MR）成年人（平均年龄=54.2岁，标准差=8.9；平均智商=61.7，标准差=6.5）的表现进行了比较。在患有WS的群体中，年长者在情景记忆测量的自由回忆任务上明显比年轻者差。尽管这一发现与正常衰老一致，但它在患有WS的成年人中出现的年龄在时间顺序上较早，且在病因未明的MR同龄人中未发现。尽管两组在工作记忆测量的倒背数字广度任务上都随年龄有小幅下降，但对于患有WS的群体，倒背数字广度的下降速度与其在自由回忆任务上的表现相比更慢。这项研究的结果表明，患有WS的成年人在时间顺序上较早且急剧出现与年龄相关的长期情景记忆下降。
