Research in the domain of spatial abilities is now focusing on whether spatial abilities can be trained, and whether this can produce gains and maintenance effects in other, untrained skills. The aim of the present study was to assess the benefit and maintenance effects of two types of mental rotation training, one based on mental rotation practice alone, the other combining mental rotation practice with the use of a spatial (rotation) strategy. Seventy-two females took part in the study: 24 practiced with a rotation task that involved comparing pairs of 3D objects [the mental rotation (MR) group], 24 were taught to use the rotation strategy while practicing with the rotation task [the strategy + mental rotation (S + MR) group], and 24 were involved in parallel non-spatial activities (the active control group). Transfer effects were sought on both untrained spatial tasks (testing object rotation and perspective taking) and fluid ability tasks; self-reported strategy use was also examined. Our results showed short-term benefits and maintenance effects in the MR and the S + MR groups in terms of their accuracy in both the MR tasks considered (a 3D same/different task, and the Mental Rotations Test). The S + MR group was more accurate at follow-up than at post-test in both MR tasks, and reported using the rotation strategy in association with the tasks; this group was also more accurate at follow-up than at pre-test in the perspective-taking and fluid intelligence tasks. These findings are discussed from the spatial cognition standpoint and with reference to the (rotation) training literature.

The present study aims to find empirical evidence of deficits in linguistic pragmatic skills and theory of mind (ToM) in children with dyslexia with associated language difficulties or nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), when compared with a group of typically developing (TD) children matched for age and gender. Our results indicate that children with dyslexia perform less well than TD children in most of the tasks measuring pragmatics of language, and in one of the tasks measuring ToM. In contrast, children with NLD generally performed better than the dyslexia group, and performed significantly worse than the TD children only in a metaphors task based on visual stimuli. A discriminant function analysis confirmed the crucial role of the metaphors subtest and the verbal ToM task in distinguishing between the groups. We concluded that, contrary to a generally-held assumption, children with dyslexia and associated language difficulties may be weaker than children with NLD in linguistic pragmatics and ToM, especially when language is crucially involved. The educational and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

These results seem to suggest that the local bias typical of the cognitive profile of ASD without intellectual disability could be a property of specific cognitive domains rather than a central mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

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The present study examines the comorbidity between specific learning disorders (SLD) and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by comparing the neuropsychological profiles of children with and without this comorbidity. Ninety-seven schoolchildren from 8 to 14 years old were tested: a clinical sample of 49 children with ADHD (n = 18), SLD (n = 18) or SLD in comorbidity with ADHD (n = 13), and 48 typically-developing (TD) children matched for age and intelligence. Participants were administered tasks and questionnaires to confirm their initial diagnosis, and a battery of executive function (EF) tasks testing inhibition, shifting, and verbal and visuospatial updating. Using one-way ANOVAs, our results showed that all children in the clinical samples exhibited impairments on EF measures (inhibition and shifting tasks) when compared with TD children. A more specific pattern only emerged for the updating tasks. Only children with SLD had significant impairment in verbal updating, whereas children with ADHD, and those with SLD in comorbidity with ADHD, had the worst performance in visuospatial updating. The clinical and educational implications of these findings are discussed.