The objective of the proposed research is to examine the relationship between spatial language and spatial cognition in children with Williams syndrome. Modern theories of cognition and cognitive development assume that human language reflects the organization of human thought. In theories of language learning, it is further assumed that children learn to talk about what they know- the objects and events that they see and hear around them. Recently, these theories have been challenged by evidence from an unusually genetic syndrome in which language and though appear to be partially dissociated. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) show a characteristic cognitive profile that includes profound deficits in spatial representation together with relatively spared and normally developing language. This combination of deficit in spatial understanding together with apparently spared development of language raises the question how these individuals learn to talk about space, using nouns, verbs, and prepositions to encode the objects,e vents, and spatial relationships they observe around them. Although there is currently considerable research activity on WS, there have been no detailed studies on the character on their spatial language nor how it may be related to deficits in their spatial cognition. The research described in this proposal will begin to delineate the specific nature of the spatial deficit in WS individuals, the specific nature of their spatial language, and the possible relationships between these aspects of language and thought in this syndrome. A series of nine experiments on the spatial deficit will examine the nature of spatial breakdown, especially focusing on (a) the detailed nature of failure in pattern construction tasks, which is a hallmark of the WS cognitive profile; and (b) whether spatial breakdown is global or specific, falling along established lines of cognitive architecture. A series of six experiments on spatial language will examine whether spatial language is preserved in WS, and whether any breakdown parallels the breakdown. in spatial cognition. Overall, the research has two complementary goals: one is to better understand the pattern of cognitive breakdown and preservation in WS; the second is to use these patterns to better understand the nature of cognitive architecture, and in general, the nature of its breakdown in cognitive developmental disorder. Therefore, as its often the case for studies of development in unusual populations, the results will also shed light on the development of language and though in normally developing children.
| Jordan, Heather; Reiss, Jason E; Hoffman, James E et al. (2002) Intact perception of biological motion in the face of profound spatial deficits: Williams syndrome. Psychol Sci 13:162-7 |
