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Psychologist working to reverse memory deficiency due to Down Syndrome |
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Thursday, 13 October 2011 12:18 |
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By BROWN AND WHITE STAFF
Developmental psychologist Jamie Edgin shared her research on Down Syndrome with the Department of Psychology on Thursday in Chandler-Ulmann. She is working to reverse memory deficiency in people with Down Syndrome, a chromosomal condition resulting from extra genetic material.
“It’s really exciting work,” Edgin said. “We don’t really know what will happen.”
A study conducted in 2007 by Muriel Davisson showed a complete reverse of hippocampal memory deficiency in mice with Down Syndrome. Edgin has been testing groups of people with condition to detect the underlying causes of these memory deficiencies.
“It is a disorder of development,” she said. “It’s a bit of a progressive disorder.”
Edgin’s 75 test subjects range in age from 7 to 38, and maintain IQs from 40 through 75. Some of the tests they take involve remembering the location of certain objects or images. Edgin showed a video clip featuring a young subject watching several white boxes on a computer screen. Each box flashed to reveal either an image or a blank space before disappearing from sight. The subject was then prompted to chose where the objects had been once the boxes return. The test includes several levels of increasing difficulty. Edgin said nearly 40 percent of those tested could reach the highest level.
“Individual differences are important in this population,” she said. “Just because behavior deficits or outcomes seem to have the same pattern doesn’t mean it has the same underlying cause.”
Edgin said 400,000 people with Down Syndrome live in the US and 70 to 80 percent of them have obstructive sleep apnea, which may be disruptive of how the drugs work.
“I didn’t know much about it at all,” Lisa Connor, a graduate student, said. “It’s very interesting.”
Assistant Professor Chris Burke said the Psychology Department tries to bring in speakers who appeal to them. “We don’t do Down Syndrome research in our department, but [Edgin] studies similar cognitive processes,” he said.
Story by Brown and White news writer Hannah Rettoun, '14
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