Symbolic sequence learning is associated with cognitive-affective profiles in female FMR1 premutation carriers

CM Kraan; DR Hocking; JL Bradshaw; N Georgiou-Karistianis; SA Metcalfe; AD Archibald; J Fielding; J Trollor; J Cohen; KM Cornish

Journal article

Symbolic sequence learning is associated with cognitive-affective profiles in female FMR1 premutation carriers

CM Kraan, DR Hocking, JL Bradshaw, N Georgiou-Karistianis, SA Metcalfe, AD Archibald, J Fielding, J Trollor, J Cohen, KM Cornish

Genes Brain and Behavior | Published : 2014

DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12122

Abstract

This study examines implicit sequence learning impairments that may indicate at-risk cerebellar profiles proposed to underlie some aspects of subtle cognitive and affective dysfunctions found among female fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) premutation (PM)-carriers. A total of 34 female PM-carriers and 33 age- and intelligence-matched controls completed an implicit symbolically primed serial reaction time task (SRTT) previously shown to be sensitive to cerebellar involvement. Implicit learning scores indicated a preservation of learning in both groups; however, PM-carriers demonstrated poorer learning through significantly elevated response latencies overall and at each specific block wit..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Claudine Kraan Author

Alison Archibald Author

Jonathan Cohen Author

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP110103346) to K.C., N.G.K., S.M., J.T., J.F. and J.B., and a Monash University Research Fellowship to D.H. This work was partly supported by a National Fragile X Foundation Rosen Summer Student Fellowship award and the Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship Scheme to C.K. S.M. was supported by the University of Melbourne. S.M. and A.A. were supported by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. We express our thanks to the Fragile X Association of Australia and Fragile X Alliance for their support in recruitment. We also thank Jonathan Whitty from Healthscope Pathology and Erin Turbitt from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute for their assistance on the molecular procedures and Anna Atkinson for helping with the data collection. Finally, we are indebted to all the families who participated in this research.