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Abstract:
Children with Down syndrome, and matched controls, were
tested on a series of neuropsychological tests aimed at determining
whether specific neural systems are impaired, or if only
generalized impairment is observed. Benchmark tests demonstrated
that our population was typical. A battery of tests sensitive to
prefrontal, hippocampal and cerebellar function was designed.
Control subjects matched for mental age were employed, so that the
general impairment in intellectual function was accounted for,
allowing us to seek out selective impairments beyond the general.
Results to date suggest that: (1) there is strong evidence for a
specific impairment on tests sensitive to hippocampal function; (2)
there is little evidence for a specific impairment on tests
sensitive to prefrontal cortex function; (3) data on specific
deficits in cerebellar function remain to be gathered.
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