Narimoto Tadamasa, Matsuura Naomi, Takezawa Tomohiro, Mitsuhashi Yoshinori, Hiratani Michio
Tokyo University of Social Welfare, Department of Social Welfare, 2-13-32 Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0002, Japan.
J Genet Psychol. 2013 Jan-Feb;174(1):73-87. doi: 10.1080/00221325.2011.641040.
The authors investigated whether impaired spatial short-term memory exhibited by children with nonverbal learning disabilities is due to a problem in the encoding process. Children with or without nonverbal learning disabilities performed a simple spatial test that required them to remember 3, 5, or 7 spatial items presented simultaneously in random positions (i.e., spatial configuration) and to decide if a target item was changed or all items including the target were in the same position. The results showed that, even when the spatial positions in the encoding and probe phases were similar, the mean proportion correct of children with nonverbal learning disabilities was 0.58 while that of children without nonverbal learning disabilities was 0.84. The authors argue with the results that children with nonverbal learning disabilities have difficulty encoding relational information between spatial items, and that this difficulty is responsible for their impaired spatial short-term memory.
作者们研究了患有非言语学习障碍的儿童所表现出的空间短期记忆受损是否归因于编码过程中的问题。患有或未患有非言语学习障碍的儿童进行了一项简单的空间测试，该测试要求他们记住同时呈现在随机位置（即空间配置）的3个、5个或7个空间项目，并判断一个目标项目是否被改变，或者包括目标项目在内的所有项目是否处于相同位置。结果显示，即使在编码阶段和探测阶段的空间位置相似，患有非言语学习障碍的儿童的平均正确比例为0.58，而未患有非言语学习障碍的儿童的平均正确比例为0.84。作者们根据这些结果认为，患有非言语学习障碍的儿童在编码空间项目之间的关系信息方面存在困难，而这种困难导致了他们受损的空间短期记忆。
