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Memory and representation in young children with Down syndrome: Exploring deferred imitation and object permanence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Mechthild Rast  and
Andrew N. Meltzoff
Mechthild Rast
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Andrew N. Meltzoff*
Affiliation:
University of Washington
*
Andrew N. Meltzoff, Department of Psychology, Box 357920, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7920.
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Abstract

Deferred imitation and object permanence (OP) were tested in 48 young children with Down syndrome (DS), ranging from 20 to 43 months of age. Deferred imitation and high-level OP (invisible displacements) have long been held to be synchronous developments during sensory-motor “Stage 6” (18–24 months of age in unimpaired children). The results of the current study demonstrate deferred imitation in young children with DS, showing they can learn novel behaviors from observation and retain multiple models in memory. This is the first demonstration of deferred imitation in young children with DS. The average OP level passed in this sample was A-not-B, a task passed at 8–12 months of age in normally developing infants. Analyses showed that individual children who failed high-level OP (invisible displacements) could still perform deferred imitation. This indicates that deferred imitation and OP invisible displacements are not synchronous developments in children with DS. This asynchrony is compatible with new data from unimpaired children suggesting that deferred imitation and high-level OP entail separate and distinctive kinds of memory and representation

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , Summer 1995 , pp. 393 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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