Declarative and procedural learning in children and adolescents with posterior fossa tumours

This quasi-experimental study was designed to assess two important learning types – procedural and declarative – in children and adolescents affected by posterior fossa tumours (astrocytoma vs. medulloblastoma), given that memory has an important impact on the child's academic achievement and personal development. We had three groups: two clinical (eighteen subjects) and one control (twelve subjects). The learning types in these groups were assessed by two experimental tasks evaluating procedural-implicit and declarative memory. A Serial Reaction-Time Task was used to measure procedural sequence learning, and the Spanish version [1] of the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version- CVLT- [2] to measure declarative-explicit learning. The learning capacity was assessed considering only the blocks that represent learning, and were compared with MANOVA in clinical and normal subjects. The Raven, simple reaction-time, finger-tapping test, and grooved pegboard tests were used to assess the overall functioning of subjects. The results were compared with those from a control group of the same age, and with Spanish norm-referenced tools where available. The results indicate the absence of procedural-implicit learning in both clinical groups, whereas declarative-explicit learning is maintained in both groups. The clinical groups showed a conservation of declarative learning and a clear impairment of procedural learning. The results support the role of the cerebellum in the early phase of procedural learning.

• Autores: Quintero-Gallego, Eliana A.; Gómez, Carlos M.; Vaquero Casares, Encarnación; Márquez, Javier; Pérez-Santamaría, Fco Javier
• Fecha de publicación: 2006
• Institución: Universidad El Bosque
• Repositorio: Repositorio U. El Bosque
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unbosque.edu.co:20.500.12495/1479
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12495/1479; https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-2-9
• Palabra clave: Meduloblastoma; Pruebas de memoria y aprendizaje; Neoplasias infratentoriales; Medulloblastoma; Clinical Group; Procedural Learning; Declarative Memory; Posterior Fossa Tumour
• License: Attribution 4.0 International