Is the past “looking” for you?: observing effects of selection history in adolescents with intellectual disability

Abstract

Intellectual Disability (ID, or Intellectual Developmental Disability) has been characterised as a deficit in general mental abilities and adaptive functioning and presents with a wide range of etiologies and heterogenous symptomology. Across the domain, individuals with ID share an inefficient deployment of top-down selection and impaired updating of working memory. Both factors are closely linked with learning processes, especially implicit learning when associated with Selection History. Our study aims to observe the effects of Selection History in adolescents with Intellectual Disability. By making participants engage in making anti-saccades away from a square target that appears in a frequent or infrequent colour, we intend to induce a learnt association between the colour and the orienting response. This association is later tested as they are asked to make pro-saccades towards a new target (circle) in the presence of a distractor (history-associated square), both displayed in colours of varying histories. No significant differences are found between groups, but some large effect sizes indicate underlying interactions. The presence of large effect sizes with a small sample leads us to believe that the effects can be more pronounced in a larger sample size and a stronger learning association.