University of Arizona researchers are studying memory and brain development in young people living with Down syndrome.
The research is geared towards individuals ages 11 to 20 with Down syndrome.
"So, my lab has been working on Down Syndrome and with individuals with Down syndrome for about 20 years, and we have been examining the ways that people with Down syndrome learn," said Jamie Edgin Swanson, an associate professor of psychology at the Sonoran University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the UA.
And she says memory plays a big part in how a person learns.
"And this study in particular is taking the next step to merge what we know about how they learn on the kind of academic tasks with what's going on with their brain," said Jamie Edgin Swanson.
Annalysa Lovos is a Ph.D. student at the UA.
"We have honed our fMRI data collection down to where we're only doing a 20-minute scan in order to keep it as easy as possible for young people with Down syndrome to complete and to hold still for, so we can get really good pictures of their brains," saidLovos.
She was awarded a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to conduct this study.
"So, to date, we have actually scanned about 22 individuals so far. And that's 11 youth and teens with Down syndrome, and the same number of participants who are typically developing. So that's our comparison group," Lovos said.
Edgin Swanson says the goal is to help people with Down syndrome maximize their potential.
