Deficits in visual short-term memory binding in children at risk of non-verbal learning disabilities

• Short-term memory (STM) for shapes, colors, and shape-color bindings was assessed.
• Children at risk of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) were compared to controls.
• Both groups of children performed equally well in STM for shapes and colors.
• Children at risk of NLD performed worse than controls in shape-color binding STM.
• The results revealed visual STM binding deficits in children at risk of NLD.

It has been hypothesized that learning disabled children meet short-term memory (STM) problems especially when they must bind different types of information, however the hypothesis has not been systematically tested. This study assessed visual STM for shapes and colors and the binding of shapes and colors, comparing a group of children (aged between 8 and 10 years) at risk of non-verbal learning disabilities (NLD) with a control group of children matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. Results revealed that groups did not differ in retention of either shapes or colors, but children at risk of NLD were poorer than controls in memory for shape-color bindings.