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Abstract:
Changes in verbal working memory (VWM) in childhood play an
important role in theories of cognitive development. However, the
brain-behavior relationships underlying VWM in children, and
particularly the developing brain's potential for functional
plasticity of VWM following early damage, are not well understood.
The goal of this study was to assess the plasticity of VWM in
children following very early, circumscribed damage. We compared
the performance of 16 children (age 8-13) with unilateral, focal
brain damage sustained pre- or perinatally (FL group) with that of
87 control children on two tasks: verbal self-ordered pointing
(VSOP), used to measure VWM, and a standardized, 4-trial word-list
learning task used as a control measure. The VSOP task required
children to point to a different word on each presentation of lists
of 6, 8, 10, and 12 words. The FL group had significantly more
pointing repetitions on VSOP than the control group, and a trend
towards worse performance on the control task. Children with left
hemisphere lesions (n=9) showed a trend towards worse performance
than those with right hemisphere lesions (n=7) on the VSOP but not
the list task. These results suggest that deficits in VWM can
remain 8-13 years following early damage, particularly in the left
hemisphere. Relationships with lesion location and with other
verbal and executive functions will be presented.
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