title: Implicit and explicit olfactory memory in people with and without Down syndrome.
abstract: This study examined differences in implicit and explicit memory performance between people with Down syndrome (DS), their siblings, children matched on mental age, and university undergraduates, using olfactory stimuli. The DS and mental-age matched participants were also compared on two tasks of executive function. The data revealed implicit memory for olfactory stimuli. Further, people with DS performed similarly to each control group on the implicit memory task, but performed significantly poorer than all control groups on the explicit memory task. Impairment to executive functioning was identified as a possible cause of this deficit in explicit memory as people with DS performed more poorly than the mental-age matched controls on both tasks of executive function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. adamdjohns@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johns
authors.forename: Judi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Homewood
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult