Prospective memory (PM) or memory for intentions is difficult for people with intellectualdisability (ID). PM has been studied in young people with Down syndrome (Godfrey &Lee, 2020) but less is known about PM in adults with unknown or other causes of ID.Storing the content of the intention and retrieval at the appropriate event load onretrospective memory and executive functions. No difference have been found betweensubjective and more objective measures of PM in the ID population (Levén m.fl., 2011).Subjective experience of perceptual impairments, e.g., hard of hearing, will be investigatedas age-related hearing loss occurs early in the ID group and hearing can benefit PM. Themore objective measure of PM is based on the procedure used in the Betula project onmemory function and ageing in Sweden. As PM task the participant get the instruction toremind the researcher about a paper to sign when the tests are finished. In case this isforgotten the participant is asked if there was something else they should do. If no responsewas given the cue; Were you not supposed to remind me of something? was provided.Subjects were not told that this was a memory test. The SDQ instrument (Goodman, 1997)will give a general description of the individual, inhibition will be rated with the VIMIinstrument, digit span rates working memory capacity, and the subjective experience ofretrospective and prospective memory is rated with PRMQ (Rönnlund m.fl., 2011). 

The semantic network structure is a core aspect of the mental lexicon and is, therefore, a key to understanding language development processes. This study investigated the structure of the semantic network of adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) and children with typical development (TD) using network analysis. The semantic networks of the participants (nID = 66; nTD = 49) were estimated from the semantic verbal fluency task with the pathfinder method. The groups were matched on the number of produced words. The average shortest path length (ASPL), the clustering coefficient (CC), and the network’s modularity (Q) of the two groups were compared. A significantly smaller ASPL and Q and a significantly higher CC were found for the adolescents with ID in comparison with the children with TD. Reasons for this might be differences in the language environment and differences in cognitive skills. The quality and quantity of the language input might differ for adolescents with ID due to differences in school curricula and because persons with ID tend to engage in different out-of-school activities compared to TD peers. Future studies should investigate the influence of different language environments on the language development of persons with ID

Öglan (Öva grundläggande aritmetik och numeriska färdigheter, FORTE 2015-02157): Applikation till Surfplatta som didaktiskt verktyg för personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning (IF) att lära den grundläggande aritmetiken studerar hur en applikation på surfplatta stöder utvecklingen av grundläggande numeriska och aritmetiska färdigheter hos personer med IF.  

Metoder för att lära den grundläggande aritmetiken för elever med IF behöver utvecklas och utvärderas för att (1) möta läroplanens mål för särskolan (2) öka kunskapen om matematiskt tänkande hos personer med IF (3) omsätta resultat i verktyg. Övning förbättrar den matematiska förmågan, men kan svaga förmågor kompenseras av andra intellektuella funktioner?  

Projektet går ut på att presentera övningar av grundläggande numeriska och aritmetiska färdigheter  på I-pads för elever med IF. Övningarnas effekt utvärderas och vi tar reda på hur länge eventuella effekter finns kvar. 

Utvecklas numeriska färdigheter och aritmetik senare hos personer med IF, eller genomgås andra steg jämfört med personer med typisk utveckling.   

IF förknippas med en generell nedsättning i intellektuella funktioner och matematiskt tänkande, försenad utveckling och barn med IF övergår från logaritmetiskt till ett linjärt tankesätt för att uppskatta tal på samma sätt som andra barn gör. Lovande resultat från övning av matematik för personer med IF i liten skala finns. Föreliggande projekt kommer att bidra med nya råd.  

Övningarna presenteras på I-pads och anpassar sig efter deltagarnas prestation. Resultaten kan relateras till resultat från övning i ordinarie skola i Sverige. En longitudinell experimentell design används med 30 personer med IF som använder applikationen. En aktiv kontrollgrupp genomför lästräning, och en passiv kontrollgrupp ägnar sig åt ordinarie undervisning. Antalsuppfattning, numerisk tal-uppfattning, och grundläggande aritmetisk förmåga undersöks innan, direkt efter samt tre månader efter avslutad träning. 

Background: Persons with intellectual disability often omit acting on intentions in the future, e.g., to take medicine at lunch. Despite research in different clinical groups, prospective memory has received little attention in relation to intellectual disability. A prospective part (when to act/timing) and a retrospective part of prospective memory (what to do/plan)are identified. Retrospective memory and vigilance are important for execution in prospective memory in persons with intellectual disability.

Method: A group with intellectual disability (IQ < 70, n=58) was defined together with a control group matched on age, sex, level of education and years of education (n=116)in the Swedish Betula database.

Results: Prospective memory performance was lower in the intellectual disability than the control group. About half of the participants with intellectual disability remembered the retrospective part of the prospective memory task if the experimenter provided a cue. Persons with intellectual disability were able to perform on the prospective memory task, despite performance at floor level for verbal prospective memory tasks in previous studies. Episodic memory was related to recognition, recall and semantic memory in both groups. Contrary to previous results, prospective memory correlated with episodic memory, semantic memory, short-term memory, recall, recognition, and knowledge only int he control group.

Discussion: Persons with intellectual disability remembered the retrospective aspect of the prospective memory task despite lower performance than the control group on other memory tasks. The intellectual disability group performed lower than the control group although performance preceded the ongoing task. Finishing all tasks may have formed a context to associate with prospective memory performance in particular for the control group with a higher memory capacity to engage in memory processing compared to the intellectual disability group. We suggest matching on education as a reason for this result.

Previous studies have shown prospective memory errors in persons with intellectual disability (adults, Levén et al., 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, adolescents, Meilan et al., 2009). As prospective memory failures are one of the most common memory errors (Crovitz and Daniel, 1984), this may explain part of the difficulties in handling demands in everyday life for persons with intellectual disability. Prospective memory refers to memory focused on realising intentions in the future. The ongoing task is performed as the intention is stored in long-term memory. Despite research in different clinical groups (brain injuries, Mioni et al., 2013; Aging, Kvavilashvili et al, 2013; schizophrenia, Raskin et al, 2013; ADHD,  Brandimonte et al., 2011, Kliegel, 2013, etc.) this aspect of memory has received little attention in relation to intellectual disability (adults, Levén et al., 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, adolescents, Meilan et al., 2009).

Meilan et al. (2009) got results supporting the multi-process view on prospective memory (McDaniel & Einstein, 1990). The multiprocess view on PM (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990) predicts that the prospective part will be noticed more automatic in specific circumstances, specifically, if the PM cue is either; (a) strongly associated with the planned action, (b) associated with the ongoing task, (c) salient, or (d) has relevant features that come into focus of attention as a result of processing associated with the ongoing task (M. A. McDaniel & Einstein, 2000; M. A. McDaniel, Guynn, Einstein, & Breneiser, 2004).

Intellectual disability and prospective memory.

Research on prospective memory has increased dramatically in recent years, although persons with intellectual disability have not been thoroughly investigated. Recent studies have studied prospective memory in persons with traumatic brain injury. Persons with intellectual disability may have suffered a brain injury in childhood, but there are also genetic and foremost unknown (about 50%) reasons for intellectual disability.

Keeping appointments (Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test) have been found to be a difficult subtest for persons with intellectual disability (Martin et al., 2000; Meilan et al., 2009). The child version of the test has been used in adult persons with Down's syndrome (Aldrich et al., 1991; Wilson 1995). Performance was low also on the borrowed item subtest of the River Mead Behavioural Memory Test. In this task the experimenter borrows an item and the participant is to ask for it later on in the experiment. Prospective memory performance is strongly related to retrospective memory performance in persons with intellectual disability similar as in children. This has been attributed to a general weakness in memory processes such as episodic memory, and/or attention (Levén et al, 2008).

Method.

Population. The participants in the present study were a subsample drawn from the prospective Betula cohort study testing wave 2. There were 2840 people between 35 and 90 years of age. People with genetic syndromes (e.g. Down syndrome) were excluded in Betula, which gave a mixed or non-specific intellectual disabilities sample. In the Betula database, a group with intellectual disability (IQ < 70, n=58) was defined, using a verbal and a nonverbal IQ test, together with a control group matched on age, sex, level of education and years of education (n=116). Note that these groups were old (mean age = 73 years) compared to most other studies on ID.

Tasks: At the beginning of all of the memory tests each day, the test leader asked the subject to remind him/her that they should sign a paper at the end of the day after all the tests were finished. Subjects were not told that this was a memory test. Together with this task on prospective memory, several tasks of episodic memory (recall, recognition), semantic memory (knowledge, fluency) and short-term memory was used.

The task was scored as follows:

4, recall no cue: Subjects remembered this without any aid

3, after cue: Test leader: Was there not something else we should do?

2, after reminding: Test leader: Were you not supposed to remind me of something?

1, failed completely: Failed to remember despite of cues given

Results.

See Table 1 for frequencies for the different prospective memory answers. The controls perform better than persons with intellectual disability on the prospective memory task, F(1,173) = 10.8, p<.001. However, almost all participants with ID managed to perform the task with reminders.

Table 1. Frequencies for the prospective memory answers in percent in the two groups.

Prospective memory answer

ID

Controls

1, failed completely

14 %

8 %

2, recall after reminding

53 %

25 %

3, recall after cue

14 %

37 %

4, recall without cue

19 %

30 %

In the control group, prospective memory correlated significantly with episodic memory (.19), semantic memory (.32) and short-term memory (.22), whereas in the intellectual disability group none of the correlations were significant (episodic memory .16, semantic memory .08, and short-term memory .18). The memory measures were also more intercorrelated in the control group compared to the intellectual disability group. This is contrary to previous results (Levén et al., 2008, 2011, 2013) where the ID group had higher intercorrelations.

Discussion.

Low prospective memory performance was found in the intellectual disability group as in previous studies. Prospective memory correlated with other memory functions only in the control group. One possibility is that prospective memory loads on executive functions, or vigilance not measured in this study.

Persons with intellectual disability have not been able to perform verbal prospective memory tasks at all in previous studies. In this study, on the contrary, persons with intellectual disability performed a verbal prospective memory task. About half of the participants with intellectual disability remembered the prospective memory task if the experimenter asked what they should remind them of. That is, they managed the task with a cue that reduced the load on long-term memory. Previous studies have used a less explicit cue which did not improve performance significantly in the intellectual disability group.

Selected References

Brandimonte, M. A., Filippello, P., Coluccia, E., Altgassen, M., & Kliegel, M. (2011). To do or not to do? Prospective memory versus response inhibition in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Memory, 19(1), 56-66. doi:10.1080/09658211.2010.535657

Einstein, G. O., & McDaniel, M. A. (1990). Normal aging and prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, (4), 717-726.

Levén, A., Lyxell, B., Andersson, J., Danielsson, H., & Rönnberg, J. (2011). The relationship between prospective memory, working memory and self-rated memory performance in individuals with intellectual disability. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 1-17.                                           

Levén, A., Lyxell, B., Andersson, J., Danielsson, H. & Rönnberg, J. (2008). Prospective memory, working memory, retrospective memory and self-rated memory performance in persons with intellectual disability. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. , 10(3), 147-165.

Levén, A., Lyxell, B., Andersson, J. & Danielsson, H. (2013). Pictures as cues or as support to verbal cues at encoding and execution of prospective memories in individuals with intellectual disability. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research.

Meilán, J. G., Pérez, E., Arana, J. M., & Carro, J. (2009). Neuropsychological and cognitive factors in event-based prospective memory performance in adolescents and young people with an intellectual disability. British Journal Of Developmental Disabilities, 55(108,Pt1), 61-75. doi:10.1179/096979509799103179

Mioni, G., Rendell, P. G., Henry, J. D., Cantagallo, A., & Stablum, F. (2013). An investigation of prospective memory functions in people with traumatic brain injury using Virtual Week. Journal Of Clinical And Experimental Neuropsychology, 35(6), 617-630. doi:10.1080/13803395.2013.804036

Wilson, B. A. and Ivani-Chalian, R. (1995), Performance of adults with Down's syndrome on the Children's Version of the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test: A brief report. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34: 85–88. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1995.tb01440.x

This study focused on prospective memory in persons with intellectual disability and age-matched controls. Persons with intellectual disability have limited prospective memory function. We investigated prospective memory with words and pictures as cues at encoding and retrieval. Prospective and episodic memory was estimated from Prospective Memory Game performance. Pictures at retrieval were important for prospective memory in particular in the intellectual disability group. Prospective memory performance imposed a cost to Episodic Memory (ongoing task) performance in the intellectual disability group. This group was outperformed by the control group on working memory, time reproduction, time concepts, and Raven's coloured progressive matrices. To conclude, pictures at retrieval improve prospective memory performance compared to words as cues. This can be essential for the intellectual disability group likely due to limited episodic and working memory capacity and the ability to switch attention.

Background although prospective memory is a known challenge for children with ADHD, few research has been undertaken on the topic. In this study we analyse the relation between prospective memory, working memory, time reproduction and impulse control. Cognitive training often computer-based such as Cogmed (Klingberg et al., 2005) can improve working memory and inhibitory control and therefore also improve prospective memory functioning. Method Nine boys with ADHD matched for chronological age with 11 boys without ADHD, aged 10-12 years performed tasks measuring prospective memory, working memory, time perception and impulse control. Results Prospective memory performance was related to the number of times the child checked for cues to when to act on the prospective memory task. Children with ADHD performed on a par with the control group on the prospective memory task, but they used more cues. The groups did not differ in impulse control or working memory performance, although boys with ADHD underestimated the length of short time periods. Conclusions Taken together, these results suggest adequate prospective memory performance in boys with ADHD given appropriate cognitive support. Weak sense for time may result in the need of cues for prospective memory performance.

Mastermind: Förbättrat vardagsfungerande för personer med utvecklingsstörning genom träning av exekutiva funktioner.

Föredragande författare: Anna Levén, forskarassistent, institutet för handikappvetenskap och institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, Linköpings universitet, 581 83 Linköping, e-post anna.leven@liu.se, tel 013-28 58  44

Bakgrund

Föreliggande projekt handlar om träning av exekutiva funktioner (EF) hos barn och ungdomar med utvecklingsstörning. Dessa individer har ofta svårt att hantera vardagens krav på praktiska och sociala färdigheter. Begränsade EF är en bidragande faktor till detta. Det traditionella sättet att övervinna dessa svårigheter är att träna på att hantera specifika situationer. Detta blir ett problem för personer som måste träna på många situationer. Dessa individer tvingas att spendera mycket tid på träning. Ett annat sätt att närma sig denna problematik är att förändra  närbesläktade minnesfunktioner som är av betydelse för EF. EF är en kognitiv funktion som kan delas upp i 3 separata delkomponenter: förmåga att växla fokus, hämning och uppdatering. Uppdatering motsvarar i princip det vi kallar arbetsminne. Träning av arbetsminnet har förbättrat aritmetiska kunskaper och förmåga att komma ihåg kortare berättelser för personer med utvecklingsstörning (van der Molen et al., 2010).

Syfte

Föreliggande projekt bygger vidare på tidigare forskning, framförallt inom 3 områden: 1) Vi tränar EF, som är en mer specifik funktion jämfört med arbetsminne. EF har starka band till vardagsfungerande hos icke funktionshindrade individer och vi vill ta reda på om träning av EF indirekt påverkar vardagsfungerande hos personer med utvecklingsstörning. 2) Vi undersöker träningseffekter på den typ av uppgifter som har tränats (EF) och om träningen generaliseras och påverkar prestationen på närbesläktade uppgifter (växling, uppdatering, hämning), eller på avlägset besläktade uppgifter (prospektivt minne, episodiskt minne, flytande intelligens det har är), eller till vardagliga uppgifter (skattningar av EF i vardagen, skolrelaterade färdigheter). 3) Vi undersöker också långsiktiga effekter av träning genom uppföljning 6 månader efter träningsperioden.

Metod

Data kommer att analyseras på tre nivåer; gruppnivå, sub-gruppnivå, enskilda fall. På gruppnivå kommer vi använda en mixad 3x3 design. Individerna med utvecklingsstörning delas in i en träningsgrupp och en grupp som väntar. En kontrollgrupp med motsvarande  EF finns också. Tidpunkt för testning (innan, direkt efter och 6 månader efter träning) är inomgruppsvariabel. Vi använder väl etablerade test och uppgifter som vi utvecklat själva för att passa den här populationen.

Resultat

Träning har förbättrat förmågan att uppdatera information i arbetsminnet. Träningen påverkade också aritmetisk förmåga och återberättande av texter hos ungdomar med utvecklingsstörning (van der Molen, 2010).

Slutsats

Projektet kan bidra med kunskap som utgör ett teoretiskt tillskott och kan tillämpas i praktiken av olika typer av professioner.

Anna Levén, forskarassistent, Institutet för handikappvetenskap och institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, Linköpings universitet, 581 83 Linköping, e-post anna.leven@liu.se, tel 013-28 58 44

Henrik Danielsson, forskarassistent, Institutet för handikappvetenskap och institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, Linköpings universitet, 581 83 Linköping, e-post Henrik. Danielsson@liu.se, tel 013-28 21 99

M. J. (Mariët) van der Molen, PhD.

VU University Amsterdam, Department of Developmental Psychology

Van der Boechorststraat 1, kr 3B-61, 1081 BT Amsterdam

Phone: +31 20 59 48946

E-mail:MJ.van.der.Molen@psy.vu.nl

Björn Lyxell, professor, Institutet för handikappvetenskap och institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, Linköpings universitet, 581 83 Linköping, e-post bjorn.lyxell@liu.se, tel 013-28 21 06