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. 2024 Mar;68(3):223-236.
doi: 10.1111/jir.13111. Epub 2023 Dec 10.

A profile of spatial abilities in people with Down syndrome

A Bracken  1 , J Hauss  1   2 , S Grinshpun  1 , D Lasc  1 , A Hershkovich  1 , Y Yang  1
Affiliations

A profile of spatial abilities in people with Down syndrome

A Bracken et al. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Spatial abilities are fundamental cognitive abilities, have direct applications in daily life, serve as a cognitive foundation for many other complex skills and are used in many specialty jobs. The current study aimed to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the spatial abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) relative to mental ability-matched typically developing (TD) children based on Newcombe and Shipley's double-dimension theoretical framework for classifying spatial abilities.

Methods: Forty adolescents and young adults with DS and 40 TD children completed a nonverbal intelligence test (Raven's), two measures of static-extrinsic skills (water-level task and cart task), two measures of static-intrinsic skills (figure ground and form completion), two measures of dynamic-extrinsic skills (three mountains task and dog task) and two measures of dynamic-intrinsic spatial skills (mental rotation task and block design task).

Results: Participants with DS showed reduced performance on two dynamic-intrinsic tasks and one static-extrinsic task (i.e. cart task) relative to TD children. Performances were similar in two dynamic-extrinsic tasks and two static-intrinsic tasks. Analyses of composite accuracy for each spatial category further confirmed deficits in dynamic-intrinsic and static-extrinsic categories for people with DS relative to TD children.

Conclusions: Our results showed an uneven profile of spatial abilities in people with DS relative to ability-matched TD children with particular weaknesses in comprehending and manipulating dynamic-intrinsic and static-extrinsic spatial relations. Furthermore, our research has important clinical implications for more targeted interventions to improve spatial abilities in people with DS.

Keywords: Down syndrome; dynamic vs. static; experimental; extrinsic vs. intrinsic; spatial abilities.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no competing interests for the authors in this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of experimental stimuli Note. Panel A: Mental Rotation (left: 0°, right, 45°). Panel B: Water Level Task (top: example item at 0°, bottom: 30°). Panel C: Cart Task (top: example item at 0°, bottom: 30°). Panel D: Dog Task. Panel E: Three Mountains Task (270°). The top picture shows that participants needed to take the brown dog’s perspective. The bottom picture shows the four options.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Percentage Accuracy Scores in Different Dimensions By Groups
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Z Scores in Different Dimensions By Groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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