Jamie Edgin

Interests

Teaching

Child Development, Memory, Brain and Behavior (Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience), Sleep, Memory Development, Developmental Disorders

Research

I study the processes of typical and disordered memory development, utilizing current cognitive neuroscience methods to track the change in how memory representations are encoded and stored across childhood. The role of disordered sleep is an important facet of my program, particularly through the study of children with Down syndrome, who show extreme sleep disturbance from infancy to old age.

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Burack, J. A., Edgin, J., Abbeduto, L., & Busciglio, J. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Down Syndrome and Development. Oxford University Press.

Chapters

• Edgin, J. O., & Nadel, L. (2017). Hippocampus and Development. In Neuroscience and Biobehavioral psychology.

Journals/Publications

• Arias-Trejo, N., Angulo-Chavira, A. Q., Demara, B., Figueroa, C., & Edgin, J. (2021). The influence of sleep on language production modalities in preschool children with Down syndrome. Journal of Sleep Research, 30(3), e13120.
• Dimachkie, N. A., Nguyen, V., Anglo, C., Sterling, A., Edgin, J., Sherman, S., Berry-Kravis, E., Hoyo, S. L., Abbeduto, L., & Thurman, A. J. (2021). Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in individuals with down syndrome. Brain sciences, 11(10), 1278.
• Hughes, K., & Edgin, J. (2021). Sleep to remember: Typical and atypical sleep and constraints on representational development. Taking Development Seriously A Festschrift for Annette Karmiloff-Smith: Neuroconstructivism and the Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Understanding the Emergence of Mind.
• Knobbe, K., Partha, M., Seckeler, M. D., Klewer, S., Hsu, C., Edgin, J., Morgan, W. J., Provencio-Dean, N., Lopez, S., Parthasarathy, S., & others, . (2021). Association Between Sleep Disturbances With Neurodevelopmental Problems and Decreased Health-Related Quality of Life in Children With Fontan Circulation. Journal of the American Heart Association, 10(21), e021749.
• Lovos, A., Bottrill, K., Sakhon, S., Nyhuis, C., Egleson, E., Luongo, A., Murphy, M., Thurman, A. J., Abbeduto, L., Lee, N. R., Hughes, K., & Edgin, J. (2021). Circadian Sleep-Activity Rhythm across Ages in Down Syndrome. Brain sciences, 11(11).
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  Across all ages, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) experience high rates of sleep problems as well as cognitive impairments. This study sought to investigate whether circadian rhythm disruption was also experienced by people with DS and whether this kind of sleep disorder may be correlated with cognitive performance. A cross-sectional study of 101 participants (58 with DS, 43 with typical development) included individuals in middle childhood (6-10 years old), adolescence (11-18 years old), and young adulthood (19-26 years old). Sleep and markers of circadian timing and robustness were calculated using actigraphy. Cognitive and behavioral data were gathered via a novel touchscreen battery (A-MAP, Arizona Memory Assessment for Preschoolers and Special Populations) and parent questionnaire. Results indicated that children and adolescents with DS slept the same amount as peers with typical development, but significant group differences were seen in phase timing. The circadian robustness markers, interdaily stability and intradaily variability of sleep-wake rhythms, were healthiest for children regardless of diagnostic group and worst for adults with DS. Amplitude of the 24-h activity profile was elevated for all individuals with DS. In analyses of the correlations between sleep quality, rhythms, and cognition in people with DS, interdaily stability was positively correlated with reaction time and negatively correlated with verbal and scene recall, a finding that indicates increased stability may paradoxically correlate with poorer cognitive outcomes. Further, we found no relations with sleep efficiency previously found in preschool and adult samples. Therefore, the current findings suggest that a thorough examination of sleep disorders in DS must take into account age as well as circadian robustness to better understand sleep-cognitive correlations in this group.
• Luongo, A., Lukowski, A., Protho, T., Van Vorce, H., Pisani, L., & Edgin, J. (2021). Sleep's role in memory consolidation: What can we learn from atypical development?. Advances in child development and behavior, 60, 229-260.
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  Research conducted over the last century has suggested a role for sleep in the processes guiding healthy cognition and development, including memory consolidation. Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) tend to have higher rates of sleep disturbances, which could relate to behavior issues, developmental delays, and learning difficulties. While several studies examine whether sleep exacerbates daytime difficulties and attention deficits in children with IDDs, this chapter focuses on the current state of knowledge regarding sleep and memory consolidation in typically developing (TD) groups and those at risk for learning difficulties. In particular, this chapter summarizes the current literature on sleep-dependent learning across developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Learning Disabilities (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Dyslexia). We also highlight the gaps in the current literature and identify challenges in studying sleep-dependent memory in children with different IDDs. This burgeoning new field highlights the importance of considering the role of sleep in memory retention across long delays when evaluating children's memory processes. Further, an understanding of typical and atypical development can mutually inform recent theories of sleep's role in memory.
• Thurman, A. J., Edgin, J. O., Sherman, S. L., Sterling, A., McDuffie, A., Berry-Kravis, E., Hamilton, D., & Abbeduto, L. (2021). Spoken language outcome measures for treatment studies in Down syndrome: Feasibility, practice effects, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of variables generated from expressive language sampling. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 13(1), 1--17.
• Abbeduto, L., Berry-Kravis, E., Sterling, A., Sherman, S., Edgin, J. O., McDuffie, A., Hoffmann, A., Hamilton, D., Nelson, M., Aschkenasy, J., & Thurman, A. J. (2020). Expressive language sampling as a source of outcome measures for treatment studies in fragile X syndrome: feasibility, practice effects, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 12(1), 11.
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  In the original publication of this article [1], the author name Leonard Abbeduto was misspelled as Leonardkk Abbeduto. The original article has been corrected.
• Arias-Trejo, N., Angulo-Chavira, A. Q., Demara, B., Figueroa, C., & Edgin, J. (2020). The influence of sleep on language production modalities in preschool children with Down syndrome. Journal of sleep research, e13120.
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  Evidence suggests that sleep may relate to oral language production in children with Down syndrome. However, these children are capable of using complex referential gestures as a compensation strategy for problems with oral production, and those with a greater productive oral vocabulary have less gestural vocabulary. The goal of this study was to explore whether sleep quality relates to oral and gestural production modalities in children with Down syndrome. We evaluated 36 preschool children with and without Down syndrome, paired by chronological age and gender, with similar sociodemographic backgrounds, using actigraphy to measure sleep behaviour and the Communicative Development Inventory for Down syndrome to measure vocabulary. Children with Down syndrome with better sleep efficiency showed more oral production but less gestural production. These results highlight the importance of sleep quality to language learning in children with Down syndrome.
• Combs, D., Edgin, J. O., Klewer, S., Barber, B. J., Morgan, W. J., Hsu, C. H., Abraham, I., & Parthasarathy, S. (2020). OSA and Neurocognitive Impairment in Children With Congenital Heart Disease. Chest, 158(3), 1208-1217.
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  Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) have an increased risk of neurocognitive impairment. No prior studies have evaluated the role of OSA, which is associated with neurocognitive impairment in children without CHD.
• Edgin, J. O., Liu, Y., Hughes, K., Spanò, G., & Clark, C. A. (2020). The "eyes have it," but when in development?: The importance of a developmental perspective in our understanding of behavioral memory formation and the hippocampus. Hippocampus, 30(8), 815-828.
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  Lynn Nadel has been a trailblazer in memory research for decades. In just one example, Nadel and Zola-Morgan [Infantile amnesia, In Infant memory, Springer, Boston, MA, 1984, pp. 145-172] were the first to present the provocative notion that the extended development of the hippocampus may underlie the period of infantile amnesia. In this special issue of Hippocampus to honor Lynn Nadel, we review some of his major contributions to the field of memory development, with an emphasis on his observations that behavioral memory assessments follow an uneven, yet protracted developmental course. We present data emphasizing this point from memory-related eye movements [Hannula & Ranganath, Neuron, 2009, 63(5), 592-599]. Eye tracking is a sensitive behavioral measure, allowing for an indication of memory function even without overt responses, which is seemingly ideal for the investigation of memory in early childhood or in other nonverbal populations. However, the behavioral manifestation of these eye movements follows a U-shaped trajectory-and one that must be understood before these indictors could be broadly used as a marker of memory. We examine the change in preferential looking time to target stimuli in school-aged children and adults, and compare these eye movement responses to explicit recall measures. Our findings indicate change in the nature and timing of these eye movements in older children, causing us to question how 6-month-old infants may produce eye movements that initially appear to have the same properties as those measured in adulthood. We discuss these findings in the context of our current understanding of memory development, particularly the period of infantile amnesia.
• Edgin, J., & Saletin, J. M. (2020). Sleep, brains, and behavior across ten neurodevelopmental disorders: Introduction to the special issue on sleep in developmental disabilities. Research in developmental disabilities, 102, 103636.
• Sakhon, S., & Edgin, J. (2020). Neurobiology of Down Syndrome. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology, 197--203.
• Spanò, G., Pizzamiglio, G., McCormick, C., Clark, I. A., De Felice, S., Miller, T. D., Edgin, J. O., Rosenthal, C. R., & Maguire, E. A. (2020). Dreaming with hippocampal damage. eLife, 9.
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  The hippocampus is linked with both sleep and memory, but there is debate about whether a salient aspect of sleep - dreaming - requires its input. To address this question, we investigated if human patients with focal bilateral hippocampal damage and amnesia engaged in dreaming. We employed a provoked awakening protocol where participants were woken up at various points throughout the night, including during non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement sleep, to report their thoughts in that moment. Despite being roused a similar number of times, dream frequency was reduced in the patients compared to control participants, and the few dreams they reported were less episodic-like in nature and lacked content. These results suggest that hippocampal integrity may be necessary for typical dreaming to occur, and aligns dreaming with other hippocampal-dependent processes such as episodic memory that are central to supporting our mental life.
• Spanò, G., Weber, F. D., Pizzamiglio, G., McCormick, C., Miller, T. D., Rosenthal, C. R., Edgin, J. O., & Maguire, E. A. (2020). Sleeping with Hippocampal Damage. Current biology : CB, 30(3), 523-529.e3.
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  The hippocampus plays a critical role in sleep-related memory processes [1-3], but it is unclear which specific sleep features are dependent upon this brain structure. The examination of sleep physiology in patients with focal bilateral hippocampal damage and amnesia could supply important evidence regarding these links. However, there is a dearth of such studies, despite these patients providing compelling insights into awake cognition [4, 5]. Here, we sought to identify the contribution of the hippocampus to the sleep phenotype by characterizing sleep via comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses in memory-impaired patients with selective bilateral hippocampal damage and matched control participants using in-home polysomnography on 4 nights. We found that, compared to control participants, patients had significantly reduced slow-wave sleep-likely due to decreased density of slow waves-as well as slow-wave activity. In contrast, slow and fast spindles were indistinguishable from those of control participants. Moreover, patients expressed slow oscillations (SOs), and SO-fast spindle coupling was observed. However, on closer scrutiny, we noted that the timing of spindles within the SO cycle was delayed in the patients. The shift of patients' spindles into the later phase of the up-state within the SO cycle may indicate a mismatch in timing across the SO-spindle-ripple events that are associated with memory consolidation [6, 7]. The substantial effect of selective bilateral hippocampal damage on large-scale oscillatory activity in the cortex suggests that, as with awake cognition, the hippocampus plays a significant role in sleep physiology, which may, in turn, be necessary for efficacious episodic memory.
• Parthasarathy, S., Edgin, J. O., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Quan, S. F., Goodwin III, J. L., & Combs, D. (2019). Mother knows best? Comparing child and parent report of sleep parameters with polysomnography. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
• Spiridigliozzi, G. A., Goeldner, C., Edgin, J., Hart, S. J., Noeldeke, J., Squassante, L., Visootsak, J., Heller, J. H., Khwaja, O., Kishnani, P. S., & others, . (2019). Adaptive behavior in adolescents and adults with Down syndrome: Results from a 6-month longitudinal study. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 179(1), 85--93.
• Rosser, T. C., Edgin, J. O., Capone, G. T., Hamilton, D. R., Allen, E. G., Dooley, K. J., Anand, P., Strang, J. F., Armour, A. C., Frank-Crawford, M. A., & others, . (2018). Associations between medical history, cognition, and behavior in youth with down syndrome: a report from the down syndrome cognition project. American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 123(6), 514--528.
• Sakhon, S., Edwards, K., Luongo, A., Murphy, M., & Edgin, J. (2018). Small sets of novel words are fully retained after 1-week in typically developing children and down syndrome: A fast mapping study. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 24(9), 955--965.
• Span`o, G., G'omez, R. L., Demara, B. I., Alt, M., Cowen, S. L., & Edgin, J. O. (2018). REM sleep in naps differentially relates to memory consolidation in typical preschoolers and children with Down syndrome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(46), 11844--11849.
• Edgin, J. O., Anand, P., Rosser, T., Pierpont, E. I., Figueroa, C., Hamilton, D., Huddleston, L., Mason, G., Spano, G., Toole, L., Nguyen-Driver, M., Capone, G., Abbeduto, L., Maslen, C., Reeves, R. H., & Sherman, S. (2017). The Arizona Cognitive Test Battery for Down Syndrome: Test-Retest Reliability and Practice Effects. American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 122(3), 215-234.
• Edgin, J. O., Clark, C. A., Fernandez, F., Sakhon, S., & Spano, G. (2017). The medial temporal memory system in Down syndrome: Translating animal models of hippocampal compromise. Hippocampus, 27(6), 683-691.
• Edgin, J. O., Clark, C. A., Liu, Y., Wright, N. L., & Bedrick, A. (2017). Functional neural bases of numerosity judgments in healthy adults born preterm. Brain and cognition, 118, 90-99.
• Edgin, J. O., Combs, D., Goodwin, J. L., Quan, S. F., & Parthasarathy, S. (2017). MOTHER KNOWS BEST? COMPARING CHILD AND PARENT REPORT OF SLEEP PARAMETERS WITH POLYSOMNOGRAPHY. Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders Research, 40(1), A373-A373.
• Edgin, J. O., Esbensen, A. J., Hooper, S. R., Fidler, D., Hartley, S. L., d'Ardhuy, X. L., Capone, G., Conners, F. A., Mervis, C. B., Abbeduto, L., Rafii, M., Krinsky-McHale, S. J., & Urv, T. (2017). Outcome measures for clinical trials in Down syndrome. American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• Edgin, J. O., Rofail, D., Froggatt, D., De La Torre, R., Kishnani, P., Touraine, R., Whitwham, S., Squassante, L., Khwaja, O., & D'Ardhuy, X. l. (2017). Health-Related Quality of Life in Individuals with Down Syndrome: Results from a Non-Interventional Longitudinal Multi-National Study. Advances in therapy, 34(8), 2058-2069.
• Edgin, J. O., Spano, G., & Intraub, H. (2017). Testing the “Boundaries” of boundary extension: Anticipatory scene representation across development and disorder. Hippocampus, 27(6), 726-739.
• Fernandez, F., Nyhuis, C., Anand, P., Demara, B., Ruby, N. F., Spano, G., Clark, C. A., & Edgin, J. O. (2017). Young children with Down syndrome show normal development of circadian rhythms, but poor sleep efficiency: a cross-sectional study across the first 60 months of life. Sleep medicine, 134-144.
• Delabar, J. M., Allinquant, B., Bianchi, D., Blumenthal, T., Dekker, A., Edgin, J., O'Bryan, J., Dierssen, M., Potier, M. C., Wiseman, F., Guedj, F., Créau, N., Reeves, R., Gardiner, K., & Busciglio, J. (2016). Changing Paradigms in Down Syndrome: The First International Conference of the Trisomy 21 Research Society. Molecular syndromology, 7(5), 251-261.
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  Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability (ID) in humans with an incidence of ∼1:1,000 live births worldwide. It is caused by the presence of an extra copy of all or a segment of the long arm of human chromosome 21 (trisomy 21). People with DS present with a constellation of phenotypic alterations involving most organs and organ systems. ID is present in all people with DS, albeit with variable severity. DS is also the most frequent genetic cause of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and ∼50% of those with DS will develop AD-related dementia. In the last few years, significant progress has been made in understanding the crucial genotype-phenotype relationships in DS, in identifying the alterations in molecular pathways leading to the various clinical conditions present in DS, and in preclinical evaluations of potential therapies to improve the overall health and well-being of individuals with DS. In June 2015, 230 scientists, advocates, patients, and family members met in Paris for the 1st International Conference of the Trisomy 21 Research Society. Here, we report some of the most relevant presentations that took place during the meeting.
• Fernandez, F., & Edgin, J. O. (2016). Pharmacotherapy in Down's syndrome: which way forward?. The Lancet. Neurology, 15(8), 776-7.
• Gómez, R. L., & Edgin, J. O. (2016). The extended trajectory of hippocampal development: Implications for early memory development and disorder. Developmental cognitive neuroscience.
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  Hippocampus has an extended developmental trajectory, with refinements occurring in the trisynaptic circuit until adolescence. While structural change should suggest a protracted course in behavior, some studies find evidence of precocious hippocampal development in the first postnatal year and continuity in memory processes beyond. However, a number of memory functions, including binding and relational inference, can be cortically supported. Evidence from the animal literature suggests that tasks often associated with hippocampus (visual paired comparison, binding of a visuomotor response) can be mediated by structures external to hippocampus. Thus, a complete examination of memory development will have to rule out cortex as a source of early memory competency. We propose that early memory must show properties associated with full function of the trisynaptic circuit to reflect "adult-like" memory function, mainly (1) rapid encoding of contextual details of overlapping patterns, and (2) retention of these details over sleep-dependent delays. A wealth of evidence suggests that these functions are not apparent until 18-24 months, with behavioral discontinuities reflecting shifts in the neural structures subserving memory beginning approximately at this point in development. We discuss the implications of these observations for theories of memory and for identifying and measuring memory function in populations with typical and atypical hippocampal function.
• Sabbagh, M., & Edgin, J. (2016). Clinical Assessment of Cognitive Decline in Adults with Down Syndrome. Current Alzheimer research, 13(1), 30-4.
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  Down syndrome is an intellectual disability requiring periodic monitoring of cognition given the near universal presence of Alzheimer's Disease related neuropathology and high rates of dementia in middle adulthood. We review current approaches to detecting decline in this population, including informant-based measures, dementia screening tools, and neuroimaging techniques. The challenges for detecting decline in this group are discussed, including the need to take into account premorbid cognitive function as well as medical comorbidity.
• Spanò, G., & Edgin, J. O. (2016). Everyday memory in individuals with Down syndrome: Validation of the Observer Memory Questionnaire - Parent Form. Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence, 1-13.
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  The memory profile of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) has mainly been examined through traditional laboratory tasks, often revealing substantial deficits in episodic and declarative memory. Little is known about the relation between memory abilities as measured in the laboratory versus naturalistic settings in this population, and no questionnaire assessments of everyday memory have been formally validated for this group. The current study's aims were twofold: 1) to describe the psychometric characteristics of a parent-reported everyday memory measure (the Observer Memory Questionnaire - Parent Form, OMQ-PF) in this population with known hippocampal and memory impairment (i.e., DS, ages 7-35 years), and 2) to determine if the measure has the sensitivity to detect impairments, thus providing some of the first data to document parent reports of everyday memory in individuals with DS. The results indicate that this scale is a reliable instrument for detecting and tracking memory deficits over time in this population. We found a correlation between parent reports of everyday memory difficulties and well-replicated deficits in a laboratory-based memory task (i.e., place-object paired associates learning). Our results suggest that the OMQ-PF has the potential to be used as a tool to help to track the status of memory function in this group both for use in descriptive studies and in studies of behavior and pharmacological intervention.
• Van Hoogmoed, A. H., Nadel, L., Spanò, G., & Edgin, J. O. (2016). ERP correlates of object recognition memory in Down syndrome: Do active and passive tasks measure the same thing?. Neuropsychologia, 82, 39-53.
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  Event related potentials (ERPs) can help to determine the cognitive and neural processes underlying memory functions and are often used to study populations with severe memory impairment. In healthy adults, memory is typically assessed with active tasks, while in patient studies passive memory paradigms are generally used. In this study we examined whether active and passive continuous object recognition tasks measure the same underlying memory process in typically developing (TD) adults and in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), a population with known hippocampal impairment. We further explored how ERPs in these tasks relate to behavioral measures of memory. Data-driven analysis techniques revealed large differences in old-new effects in the active versus passive task in TD adults, but no difference between these tasks in DS. The group with DS required additional processing in the active task in comparison to the TD group in two ways. First, the old-new effect started 150ms later. Second, more repetitions were required to show the old-new effect. In the group with DS, performance on a behavioral measure of object-location memory was related to ERP measures across both tasks. In total, our results suggest that active and passive ERP memory measures do not differ in DS and likely reflect the use of implicit memory, but not explicit processing, on both tasks. Our findings highlight the need for a greater understanding of the comparison between active and passive ERP paradigms before they are inferred to measure similar functions across populations (e.g., infants or intellectual disability).
• Anderson, J. S., Treiman, S. M., Ferguson, M. A., Nielsen, J. A., Edgin, J. O., Dai, L., Gerig, G., & Korenberg, J. R. (2015). Violence: heightened brain attentional network response is selectively muted in Down syndrome. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 7(1), 15.
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  The ability to recognize and respond appropriately to threat is critical to survival, and the neural substrates subserving attention to threat may be probed using depictions of media violence. Whether neural responses to potential threat differ in Down syndrome is not known.
• Edgin, J. O., Clark, C. A., Massand, E., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2015). Building an adaptive brain across development: targets for neurorehabilitation must begin in infancy. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 232.
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  Much progress has been made toward behavioral and pharmacological intervention in intellectual disability, which was once thought too difficult to treat. Down syndrome (DS) research has shown rapid advances, and clinical trials are currently underway, with more on the horizon. Here, we review the literature on the emergent profile of cognitive development in DS, emphasizing that treatment approaches must consider how some "end state" impairments, such as language deficits, may develop from early alterations in neural systems beginning in infancy. Specifically, we highlight evidence suggesting that there are pre- and early postnatal alterations in brain structure and function in DS, resulting in disturbed network function across development. We stress that these early alterations are likely amplified by Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression and poor sleep. Focusing on three network hubs (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum), we discuss how these regions may relate to evolving deficits in cognitive function in individuals with DS, and to their language profile in particular.
• Edgin, J. O., Tooley, U., Demara, B., Nyhuis, C., Anand, P., & Spanò, G. (2015). Sleep Disturbance and Expressive Language Development in Preschool-Age Children With Down Syndrome. Child development, 86(6), 1984-98.
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  Recent evidence has suggested that sleep may facilitate language learning. This study examined variation in language ability in 29 toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) in relation to levels of sleep disruption. Toddlers with DS and poor sleep (66%, n = 19) showed greater deficits on parent-reported and objective measures of language, including vocabulary and syntax. Correlations between sleep and language were found in groups with equivalent medical and social backgrounds and after control for relevant behavioral comorbidities, including autism symptoms. These results emphasize the important role of quality sleep in all children's expressive language development, and may help increase our understanding of the etiology of language deficits in developmental disorders, potentially leading to new treatment approaches.
• Gómez, R. L., & Edgin, J. O. (2015). Sleep as a window into early neural development: Shifts in sleep-dependent learning effects across early childhood. Child development perspectives, 9(3), 183-189.
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  Sleep is an important physiological state for the consolidation and generalization of new learning in children and adults. We review the literature on sleep-dependent memory consolidation and generalization in infants and preschool children and place the findings in the context of the development of the neural systems underlying memory (hippocampus and its connections to cortex). Based on the extended trajectory of hippocampal development, transitions in the nature of sleep-dependent learning are expected. The studies reviewed here show shifts in the nature of sleep-dependent learning across early childhood, with sleep facilitating generalization in infants but enhancing precise memory after 18-24 months of age. Future studies on sleep-dependent learning in infants and young children must take these transitions in early brain development into account.
• Lee, N. R., Anand, P., Will, E., Adeyemi, E. I., Clasen, L. S., Blumenthal, J. D., Giedd, J. N., Daunhauer, L. A., Fidler, D. J., & Edgin, J. O. (2015). Everyday executive functions in Down syndrome from early childhood to young adulthood: evidence for both unique and shared characteristics compared to youth with sex chromosome trisomy (XXX and XXY). Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 264.
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  Executive functions (EF) are thought to be impaired in Down syndrome (DS) and sex chromosome trisomy (Klinefelter and Trisomy X syndromes; +1X). However, the syndromic specificity and developmental trajectories associated with EF difficulties in these groups are poorly understood. The current investigation (a) compared everyday EF difficulties in youth with DS, +1X, and typical development (TD); and (b) examined relations between age and EF difficulties in these two groups and a TD control group cross-sectionally. Study 1 investigated the syndromic specificity of EF profiles on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) in DS (n = 30), +1X (n = 30), and a TD group (n = 30), ages 5-18 years. Study 2 examined age effects on EF in the same cross-sectional sample of participants included in Study 1. Study 3 sought to replicate Study 2's findings for DS by examining age-EF relations in a large independent sample of youth with DS (n = 85) and TD (n = 43), ages 4-24 years. Study 1 found evidence for both unique and shared EF impairments for the DS and +1X groups. Most notably, youth with +1X had relatively uniform EF impairments on the BRIEF scales, while the DS group showed an uneven BRIEF profile with relative strengths and weaknesses. Studies 2 and 3 provided support for fairly similar age-EF relations in the DS and TD groups. In contrast, for the +1X group, findings were mixed; 6 BRIEF scales showed similar age-EF relations to the TD group and 2 showed greater EF difficulties at older ages for +1X. These findings will be discussed within the context of efforts to identify syndrome specific cognitive-behavioral profiles for youth with different genetic syndromes in order to inform basic science investigations into the etiology of EF difficulties in these groups and to develop treatment approaches that are tailored to the needs of these groups.
• Liogier d'Ardhuy, X., Edgin, J. O., Bouis, C., de Sola, S., Goeldner, C., Kishnani, P., Nöldeke, J., Rice, S., Sacco, S., Squassante, L., Spiridigliozzi, G., Visootsak, J., Heller, J., & Khwaja, O. (2015). Assessment of Cognitive Scales to Examine Memory, Executive Function and Language in Individuals with Down Syndrome: Implications of a 6-month Observational Study. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 300.
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  Down syndrome (DS) is the most commonly identifiable genetic form of intellectual disability. Individuals with DS have considerable deficits in intellectual functioning (i.e., low intellectual quotient, delayed learning and/or impaired language development) and adaptive behavior. Previous pharmacological studies in this population have been limited by a lack of appropriate endpoints that accurately measured change in cognitive and functional abilities. Therefore, the current longitudinal observational study assessed the suitability and reliability of existing cognitive scales to determine which tools would be the most effective in future interventional clinical studies. Subtests of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool-2 (CELF-P-2), and the Observer Memory Questionnaire-Parent Form (OMQ-PF), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function®-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) and Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised were assessed. The results reported here have contributed to the optimization of trial design and endpoint selection for the Phase 2 study of a new selective negative allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor α5-subtype (Basmisanil), and can be applied to other studies in the DS population.
• Liogier, d. X., Edgin, J. O., Bouis, C., de, S. S., Goeldner, C., Kishnani, P., Jana, N., Rice, S., Sacco, S., Squassante, L., Spiridigliozzi, G., Visootsak, J., Heller, J., & Khwaja, O. (2015). Assessment of Cognitive Scales to Examine Memory, Executive Function and Language in Individuals with Down Syndrome: Implications of a 6-month Observational Study. Front Behav Neurosci, 9, 300.
• Mason, G. M., Spanó, G., & Edgin, J. (2015). Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in down syndrome: effects of the dopamine receptor d4 gene. American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 120(1), 58-71.
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  Abstract This study examined individual differences in ADHD symptoms and executive function (EF) in children with Down syndrome (DS) in relation to the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene, a gene often linked to ADHD in people without DS. Participants included 68 individuals with DS (7-21 years), assessed through laboratory tasks, caregiver reports, and experimenter ratings. Saliva samples were collected from the DS group and 66 children without DS to compare DRD4 allele distribution, showing no difference between the groups. When the sample with DS was stratified for ethnicity (n  =  32), the DRD4 7-repeat allele significantly related to parent and experimenter ratings, but not to laboratory assessments. These results suggest that nontrisomy genetic factors may contribute to individual differences in ADHD symptoms in persons with DS.
• Spano, G., Peterson, M. A., Nadel, L., & Edgin, J. O. (2015). Seeing Can Be Remembering: Interactions Between Memory and Perception in Typical and Atypical Development.. Clinical Psychological Science.
• Breslin, J., Spanò, G., Bootzin, R., Anand, P., Nadel, L., & Edgin, J. (2014). Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and cognition in Down syndrome. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.
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  Abstract: Aim: Good-quality sleep is essential for normal learning and memory. Sleep fragmentation and disrupted sleep architecture are commonly observed throughout the lifespan of individuals with Down syndrome, a condition marked by cognitive deficits emerging within the first few months of life. While obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is known to contribute to the loss of sleep quality in Down syndrome, its relation to cognitive and behavioral impairment remains poorly understood. Method: Using ambulatory polysomnography, we measured sleep in an unreferred community-based sample of 38 individuals with Down syndrome (15 males, 23 females; mean age 9y 7mo (SD 1y 9mo), range 7-12y). Cognitive outcomes were assessed with the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery, a set of psychometric measures designed and validated for this population. Results: Among children with Down syndrome, mean Verbal IQ score (p=0.006) was 9 points lower in those with comorbid OSAS (apnea-hypopnea index >1.5) than in those without OSAS, and performance on measures of cognitive flexibility was poorer (p=0.03). In addition, those with OSAS showed increased light-stage sleep (p=0.009) at the expense of slow-wave sleep (p=0.04). Interpretation: These findings demonstrate a relation between OSAS and cognitive outcomes in Down syndrome. More work is required to fully understand the mechanisms underlying the links between poor sleep and impaired cognitive function. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of adequate sleep in typically and atypically developing populations. What this paper adds: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is associated with some cognitive deficits in children with Down syndrome. Verbal IQ was 9 points lower in children with OSAS and Down syndrome, who also showed executive function deficits. These differences were found in children of similar age, BMI, and health status. Children with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and OSAS showed less slow-wave sleep and more light-stage sleep. © 2014 Mac Keith Press.
• Edgin, J. O., & Fernandez, F. (2014). The Truth about Down Syndrome. The New York Times.
• Edgin, J. O., Spanò, G., Kawa, K., & Nadel, L. (2014). Remembering things without context: Development matters. Child Development.
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  Abstract: Spatial context supports memory retrieval in adults. To understand the development of these effects, context effects on object recognition were tested in neurotypical children ages 3 years to adulthood (n 3-6 years = 34, n 10-16 years = 32, n college age = 22) and individuals with Down syndrome (DS) ages 10-29 years (n = 21). Participants engaged in an object recognition task; objects were presented in scenes and either remained in that same scene or were removed at test. In some groups (< 4.5 years and with DS) context effects were present even though object recognition was poor. After 4.5 years, children demonstrated memory flexibility, while later in adolescence context effects reemerged, showing nonlinearity in the development of these effects. © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
• Anderson, J. S., Nielsen, J. A., Ferguson, M. A., Burback, M. C., Cox, E. T., Dai, L., Gerig, G., Edgin, J. O., & Korenberg, J. R. (2013). Abnormal brain synchrony in Down Syndrome. NeuroImage. Clinical, 2, 703-15.
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  Down Syndrome is the most common genetic cause for intellectual disability, yet the pathophysiology of cognitive impairment in Down Syndrome is unknown. We compared fMRI scans of 15 individuals with Down Syndrome to 14 typically developing control subjects while they viewed 50 min of cartoon video clips. There was widespread increased synchrony between brain regions, with only a small subset of strong, distant connections showing underconnectivity in Down Syndrome. Brain regions showing negative correlations were less anticorrelated and were among the most strongly affected connections in the brain. Increased correlation was observed between all of the distributed brain networks studied, with the strongest internetwork correlation in subjects with the lowest performance IQ. A functional parcellation of the brain showed simplified network structure in Down Syndrome organized by local connectivity. Despite increased interregional synchrony, intersubject correlation to the cartoon stimuli was lower in Down Syndrome, indicating that increased synchrony had a temporal pattern that was not in response to environmental stimuli, but idiosyncratic to each Down Syndrome subject. Short-range, increased synchrony was not observed in a comparison sample of 447 autism vs. 517 control subjects from the Autism Brain Imaging Exchange (ABIDE) collection of resting state fMRI data, and increased internetwork synchrony was only observed between the default mode and attentional networks in autism. These findings suggest immature development of connectivity in Down Syndrome with impaired ability to integrate information from distant brain regions into coherent distributed networks.
• Chen, C. -., Spanò, G., & Edgin, J. O. (2013). The impact of sleep disruption on executive function in Down syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(6), 2033-2039.
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  PMID: 23584183;Abstract: The high prevalence of sleep disorders, particularly obstructive sleep apnea, is well established in children with Down syndrome. However, only a few studies have focused on older children and young adults in this population. Given the presence of sleep disorders and the early emergence of Alzheimer's disease, more work is needed to examine the relationship between sleep and cognition in Down syndrome. Twenty-nine adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome participated in the present study. Parents reported on their sleep difficulties using a well-validated measure of sleep problems in intellectual disabilities. Based on theoretical models linking obstructive sleep apnea to prefrontal cortex dysfunction, we tested components of executive functions that have been shown to be impaired in previous studies of Down syndrome. First, results indicate that participants with Down syndrome with higher body mass index also had increased caregiver reports of sleep apnea symptoms. Individuals with high ratings of sleep disruption also showed greater difficulties with executive function. These results suggest that sleep disruption may place this set of functions at risk in young adults. Future work should examine if this risk may result in earlier onset of dementia or steeper decline with Alzheimer's disease. Further, additional studies are needed to investigate the effect of exercise interventions and weight reduction on sleep disorders in this population. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013). Cognition in down syndrome: A developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 4(3), 307-317.
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  Abstract: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic form of intellectual disability. DS results in a characteristic profi{ligature}le of cognitive and neurological dysfunction. The predominant theory of the pattern of neural defi{ligature}cits in this syndrome suggests that DS aff{ligature}ects 'late-developing' neural systems, including the function of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. In order to evaluate the validity of this theory, in this review, I highlight data addressing the neurological and cognitive phenotype in DS across development. In particular, I address the evidence suggesting that DS may impact late-developing neural systems and end with the conclusion that some cognitive diffi{ligature}culties in DS must result from poor communication between late-developing regions. Analogous to recent theories of cognitive processing in autism, cognitive defi{ligature}cits in DS may be substantially impacted by less effi{ligature}cient interregional communication. Finally, I discuss some ways in which understanding the impact of altered neurodevelopment in DS has the potential to inform our understanding of species-typical trajectories of cognitive development. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
• Fernandez, F., & Edgin, J. O. (2013). Poor Sleep as a Precursor to Cognitive Decline in Down Syndrome : A Hypothesis. Journal of Alzheimer's disease & Parkinsonism, 3(2), 124.
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  We propose that sleep disruption is a lever arm that influences how cognition emerges in development and then declines in response to Alzheimer disease in people with Down syndrome. Addressing sleep disruptions might be an overlooked way to improve cognitive outcomes in this population. This article is a contribution to a Special Issue on Down Syndrome curated by the editors of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Parkinsonism.
• Edgin, J. O., Mason, G. M., Spanò, G., Fernández, A., & Nadel, L. (2012). Human and mouse model cognitive phenotypes in Down syndrome: Implications for assessment. Progress in Brain Research, 197, 123-151.
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  PMID: 22541291;Abstract: The study of cognitive function in Down syndrome (DS) has advanced rapidly in the past decade. Mouse models have generated data regarding the neurological basis for the specific cognitive profile of DS (i.e., deficits in aspects of hippocampal, prefrontal, and cerebellar function) and have uncovered pharmacological treatments with the potential to affect this phenotype. Given this progress, the field is at a juncture in which we require assessments that may effectively translate the findings acquired in mouse models to humans with DS. In this chapter, we describe the cognitive profile of humans with DS and associated mouse models, discussing the ways in which we may merge these findings so as to more fully understand cognitive strengths and weaknesses in this population. New directions for approaches to cognitive assessment in mice and humans are discussed. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
• Breslin, J. H., Edgin, J. O., Bootzin, R. R., Goodwin, J. L., & Nadel, L. (2011). Parental report of sleep problems in Down syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 55(11), 1086-1091.
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  PMID: 21726315;Abstract: Background Children with Down syndrome (DS) suffer from sleep problems, including sleep maintenance problems, as well as snoring, and other symptoms of disordered breathing. To examine sleep in DS, we gave parents a questionnaire assessing their child's sleep. Materials and methods The parents of 35 children with DS (mean age=12.65 years, range=7-18 years) completed the 33-item Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Results Eighty-five per cent of our sample had sleep disturbance scores in the clinical range (mean=48.63, SD=7.15, range=34-64). Our sample also had significantly elevated scores on the Bedtime Resistance, Sleep Anxiety, Night Wakings, Parasomnias, Sleep Disordered Breathing and Daytime Sleepiness subscales. Conclusions Children with DS are at risk for developing symptoms of sleep disordered breathing, and may have additional sleep problems that are unrelated to sleep disordered breathing. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Edgin, J. O., Kumar, A., Spanò, G., & Nadel, L. (2011). Neuropsychological effects of second language exposure in Down syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 55(3), 351-356.
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  PMID: 21320223;Abstract: Background While it has been common practice to discourage second language learning in neurodevelopmental disorders involving language impairment, little is known about the effects of second language exposure (SLE) on broader cognitive function in these children. Past studies have not found differences on language tasks in children with Down syndrome (DS) and SLE. We expand on this work to determine the effects on the broader cognitive profile, including tests tapping deficits on neuropsychological measures of prefrontal and hippocampal function. Method This study examined the specific cognitive effects of SLE in children with DS (aged 7-18 years). Children with SLE (n=13: SLE predominantly Spanish) and children from monolingual homes (n=28) were assessed on a standardised battery of neuropsychological tests developed for DS, the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery. The current exposure level to a language other than English in the SLE group was greater than 4h per day on average. Results No group differences were observed for any outcome, and level of exposure was also not linearly related to neuropsychological outcomes, several of which have been shown to be impaired in past work. Conclusion There were no measurable effects of SLE on neuropsychological function in this sample of children with DS. Potential clinical implications of these findings are discussed. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Edgin, J. O., Mason, G. M., Allman, M. J., Capone, G. T., DeLeon, I., Maslen, C., Reeves, R. H., Sherman, S. L., & Nadel, L. (2010). Development and validation of the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery for Down syndrome. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2(3), 149-164.
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  Abstract: Neurocognitive assessment in individuals with intellectual disabilities requires a well-validated test battery. To meet this need, the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB) has been developed specifically to assess the cognitive phenotype in Down syndrome (DS). The ACTB includes neuropsychological assessments chosen to 1) assess a range of skills, 2) be non-verbal so as to not confound the neuropsychological assessment with language demands, 3) have distributional properties appropriate for research studies to identify genetic modifiers of variation, 4) show sensitivity to within and between sample differences, 5) have specific correlates with brain function, and 6) be applicable to a wide age range and across contexts. The ACTB includes tests of general cognitive ability and prefrontal, hippocampal and cerebellar function. These tasks were drawn from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB) and other established paradigms. Alongside the cognitive testing battery we administered benchmark and parent-report assessments of cognition and behavior. Individuals with DS (n=74, ages 7-38 years) and mental age (MA) matched controls (n=50, ages 3-8 years) were tested across 3 sites. A subsample of these groups were used for between-group comparisons, including 55 individuals with DS and 36 mental age matched controls. The ACTB allows for low floor performance levels and participant loss. Floor effects were greater in younger children. Individuals with DS were impaired on a number ACTB tests in comparison to a MA-matched sample, with some areas of spared ability, particularly on tests requiring extensive motor coordination. Battery measures correlated with parent report of behavior and development. The ACTB provided consistent results across contexts, including home vs. lab visits, cross-site, and among individuals with a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and differences in ethnicity. The ACTB will be useful in a range of outcome studies, including clinical trials and the identification of important genetic components of cognitive disability. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
• Edgin, J. O., Pennington, B. F., & Mervis, C. B. (2010). Neuropsychological components of intellectual disability: The contributions of immediate, working, and associative memory. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(5), 406-417.
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  PMID: 20537047;PMCID: PMC3088787;Abstract: Background: Efficient memory functions are important to the development of cognitive and functional skills, allowing individuals to manipulate and store information. Theories of memory have suggested the presence of domain-specific (i.e. verbal and spatial) and general processing mechanisms across memory domains, including memory functions dependent on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the hippocampus. Comparison of individuals who have syndromes associated with striking contrasts in skills on verbal and spatial tasks [e.g. Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS)] allows us to test whether or not these dissociations may extend across cognitive domains, including PFC and hippocampal memory processes. Methods: The profile of memory function, including immediate memory (IM), working memory (WM) and associative memory (AM), was examined in a sample of adolescents and young adults with DS (n = 27) or WS (n = 28), from which closely CA- and IQ-matched samples of individuals with DS (n = 18) or WS (n = 18) were generated. Relations between memory functions and IQ and adaptive behaviour were also assessed in the larger sample. Results: Comparisons of the two matched groups indicated significant differences in verbal IM (DS < WS), spatial IM (DS > WS) and spatial and verbal AM (DS > WS), but no between-syndrome differences in WM. For individuals with DS, verbal IM was the most related to variation in IQ, and spatial AM related to adaptive behaviour. The pattern was clearly different for individuals with WS. Verbal and spatial AM were the most related to variation in IQ, and verbal WM related to adaptive behaviour. Conclusions: These results suggest that individuals with these two syndromes have very different patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses on memory measures, which do not fully mirror verbal and spatial dissociations. Furthermore, different patterns of memory dysfunction relate to outcome in individuals with each syndrome. © 2010 The Authors. Journal Compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Edgin, J. O., Inder, T. E., Anderson, P. J., Hood, K. M., Clark, C. A., & Woodward, L. J. (2008). Executive functioning in preschool children born very preterm: Relationship with early white matter pathology. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(1), 90-101.
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  PMID: 18078535;Abstract: Despite evidence for executive dysfunction in school-aged preterm children, less is known about the early development of these difficulties or their underlying neuropathology. This study used prospective longitudinal data from a regional cohort of 88 very preterm and 98 full-term comparison children to examine the executive functioning (EF) of preschool children born very preterm. The relationship between the severity of neonatal cerebral white matter (WM) abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term equivalent and children's EF at ages two and four years (corrected age) was examined. At age four, very preterm children with WM abnormalities performed less well than full-term children on the Detour Reaching Box, a measure of behavioral inhibition and cognitive flexibility, even after controlling for child IQ, SES, and medical background. Examination of patterns of EF performance between the ages of 2 and 4 years showed that the performance of all groups improved with age. However, very preterm children with mild and moderate-severe WM abnormalities were characterized by higher rates of consistent performance impairments. These findings support the presence of early and persistent executive difficulties in preschool children born very preterm, and highlight the importance of white matter pathology in the development of executive impairments. © 2008 The International Neuropsychological Society.
• Foster-Cohen, S., Edgin, J. O., Champion, P. R., & Woodward, L. J. (2007). Early delayed language development in very preterm infants: Evidence from the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Journal of Child Language, 34(3), 655-675.
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  PMID: 17822143;Abstract: This study examined the effects of being born very preterm on children's early language development using prospective longitudinal data from a representative regional cohort of 90 children born very preterm (gestational age
• Edgin, J. O., & Pennington, B. F. (2005). Spatial cognition in autism spectrum disorders: Superior, impaired, or just intact?. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35(6), 729-745.
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  PMID: 16328713;Abstract: The profile of spatial ability is of interest across autism spectrum disorders (ASD) because of reported spatial strengths in ASD and due to the recent association of Asperger's syndrome with Nonverbal Learning Disability. Spatial functions were examined in relation to two cognitive theories in autism: the central coherence and executive function (EF) theories. Performance on spatial tasks, EFs, and global/local processing was compared in children with ASD and controls. While the ASD group had faster reaction times on the Embedded Figures task, spatial performance was intact, but not superior, on other tasks. There was no evidence for impairments in EF or in processing global/local information, therefore contradicting these two theories. The implications of these results for these two theories are discussed. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
• Woodward, L. J., Edgin, J. O., Thompson, D., & Inder, T. E. (2005). Object working memory deficits predicted by early brain injury and development in the preterm infant. Brain : a journal of neurology, 128(Pt 11), 2578-87.
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  Children born preterm and of very low birth weight are at increased risk of learning difficulties and educational under-achievement. However, little is known about the specific neuropsychological problems facing these children or their neurological basis. Using prospective longitudinal data from a regional cohort of 92 preterm and 103 full-term children, this study examined relations between term MRI measures of cerebral injury and structural brain development and children's subsequent performance on an object working memory task at the age of 2 years. Results revealed clear between-group differences, with preterm children having greater difficulty encoding new information in working memory than term control children. Within the preterm group, task performance at the age of 2 years was related to both qualitative MRI measures of white matter (WM) injury and quantitative measures of total and regional brain volumes assessed at term equivalent. Bilateral reductions in total tissue volumes (%region) of the following cerebral regions were specifically related to subsequent working memory performance: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, sensorimotor, parietooccipital and premotor. Associations between total cerebral tissue volumes at term (adjusted and unadjusted for intracranial volume) persisted even after the effects of WM injury were taken into account. This suggests that early disturbance in cerebral development may have an independent adverse impact on later working memory function in the preterm infant. These findings add to our understanding of the neuropathological pathways associated with later executive dysfunction in the very preterm infant.
• Pennington, B. F., Moon, J., Edgin, J., Stedron, J., & Nadel, L. (2003). The Neuropsychology of Down Syndrome: Evidence for Hippocampal Dysfunction. Child Development, 74(1), 75-93.
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  PMID: 12625437;Abstract: This study tested prefrontal and hippocampal functions in a sample of 28 school-aged (M = 14.7 years, SD = 2.7) individuals with Down syndrome (DS) compared with 28 (M = 4.9 years, SD = .75) typically developing children individually matched on mental age (MA). Both neuropsychological domains were tested with multiple behavioral measures. Benchmark measures of verbal and spatial function demonstrated that this DS sample was similar to others in the literature. The main finding was a significant Group × Domain interaction effect indicating differential hippocampal dysfunction in the group with DS. However, there was a moderate partial correlation (r = .54, controlling for chronological age) between hippocampal and prefrontal composite scores in the DS group, and both composites contributed unique variance to the prediction of MA and adaptive behavior in that group. In sum, these results indicate a particular weakness in hippocampal functions in DS in the context of overall cognitive dysfunction. It is interesting that these results are similar to what has been found in a mouse model of DS. Such a model will make it easier to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that lead to the development of hippocampal dysfunction in DS.
• Munakata, Y., Edgin, J. O., & Stedron, J. M. (2002). The best is yet to come: The promise of models of developmental disorders. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25(6), 765-766.
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  Abstract: The developmental modeling approach to investigating developmental disorders appears highly promising. In this commentary, we question the untapped potential of this approach for supporting insights into particular developmental disorders, developmental processes across the life span, and the viability of traditional theories of developmental disorders.

Proceedings Publications

• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, Fall). Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. In Sleep, 41, A277.
• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Klewer, S. E., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, Fall). Obstructive sleep apnea is a novel risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. In Circulation, 138(Suppl 1), 14956.
• Spano, G., Anand, P., Breslin, J. H., Bootzin, R. R., Nadel, L., & Edgin, J. O. (2012). Obstructive sleep apnea in Down Syndrome: Obesity correlates. In Sleep, 35, A379.

Presentations

• Edgin, J. O. (2020, Spring). Role of Sleep for Cognitive Development in Down syndrome. INCLUDE project meeting, National Institutes of Health, invited talkNational Institutes of Health.
• Edgin, J. O. (2019, Fall). Sleep and Memory Consolidation in Down syndrome. UNAM Mexico City colloquium. Mexico City Mexico: UNAM university.
• Edgin, J. O. (2019, Fall). Sleep in Down syndrome. NIH DS Workshop on DS Cohort Development. Bethesda: NIH.
• Edgin, J. O. (2019, Spring). Retrieval Practice in Development. Sackler Winter Conference on Developmental Psychobiology. Turks and Caicos.
• Edgin, J. O. (2019, Summer). Sleep-dependent Memory Consolidation in Atypical Development. UK Sleep Scientists Network Meeting. York, UK.
• Edgin, J. O. (2018, Fall). Rethinking the role of sleep in developmental disorders. Birkbeck College Symposium to honor the life and work of Annette Karmiloff-Smith. London, UK: Birkbeck College.
• Edgin, J. O. (2018, Fall). Sleep in Down syndrome. UCL Education Dept. Sleep Scientists Network Meeting. London, UK: UCL Department of Education.
• Edgin, J. O. (2018, Fall). Typical and Atypical Hippocampal Development. UCL Memory Group meeting - Welcome Trust Center. London, UK: Functional Imaging Laboratory.
• Edgin, J. O. (2018, Winter). Sleep and Memory Development in Down syndrome. Sackler Winter Conference in Developmental Psychobiology. Hawaii: Sackler Institute.
• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., Combs, D., Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, June). Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. 2018 meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Baltimore, MD.
• Edgin, J. O. (2017, Fall). Faculty Colloquium Series. University of Arizona Speech Language and Hearing Science Department Colloquium. University of Arizona.
• Edgin, J. O. (2017, Summer). Fixing Memory in Down syndrome for the session "Fixing memory: interventions that target the hippocampus". Hippocampus Conference. Taormina, Sicily.
• Edgin, J. O., & Abbeduto, L. (2017, 2017). Expressive language sampling as an outcome measure for clinical trials. The 50th Annual Gatlinburg Conference on Intellectual and Developmental Disorders. San Antonio,TX.
• Edgin, J. O., & Spano, G. (2017, Spring). Memory consolidation across naps in typical development and in preschoolers with Down syndrome. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Austin, TX.
• Edgin, J. O., & Spano, G. (2017, Spring). Memory consolidation across polysomnography-assessed naps in preschoolers with Down syndrome. The 50th Annual Gatlinburg Conference on Intellectual and Developmental Disorders. San Antonio, TX.
• Edgin, J. O., & Spano, G. (2017, Summer). To nap or not to nap?: Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in typically and atypically developing preschoolers. 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Boston, MA.
• Edgin, J. O. (2016, Fall). Keynote Address: Sleep: The beloved teacher?. The Science of Sleep in Developmental Disorders. London, UK: University College London and Birkbeck.
• Edgin, J. O. (2016, Spring). Sleep: The beloved teacher. Cognitive Science Brown Bag Colloquium. Tucson, AZ.
• Edgin, J. O. (2016, Summer). Sleep: The beloved teacher?. APS co-sponsored Integrative Symposium at the ISSBD conference. Vilnius, Lithuania.
• Edgin, J. O. (2016, Winter). From neuropsychology to therapy: The enduring impact of Bruce Pennington's work on Down syndrome. Bruce Pennington's Festschrift conference. Denver.
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  1 of 6 former graduate students selected to present at this event
• Edgin, J. O., Liu, Y., Sakhon, S., Goffredina, S., & Caron, C. (2016, Summer). Memory binding in late childhood: eye tracking and neuroimaging studies of typical and atypical development. The 6th International Conference on Memory, ICOM-6. Budapest, Hungary.
• Goffredina, S., Gomez, R. L., Alt, M., Bianca, D., Cowen, S. L., & Edgin, J. O. (2016, Summer). Sleep and Memory Consolidation in Toddlers with Down syndrome:. The 6th International Conference on Memory, ICOM-6. Budapest, Hungary.
• Liu, Y., & Edgin, J. O. (2016, Spring). Development of Relational Memory in Middle Childhood: Evidence from Eye Movements. The 6th International Conference on Memory- ICOM-6. Budapest, Hungary.
• Sakhon, S., & Edgin, J. O. (2016, Summer). Mechanisms of Word-Learning in Typical and Atypical Development. The 6th International Conference on Memory, ICOM-6. Budapest, Hungary.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, April). talk in symposium: A new approach to memory development. Biennial Conference of Society for Research in Child Development. Philadelphia, PA: Society for Research in Child Development.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, June). We sleep to speak: Sleep, memory, and language in Down syndrome. Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group Meeting. Phoenix, AZ: Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, June). We sleep to speak: Sleep, memory, and language in Down syndrome. Inaugural meeting of the Trisomy 21 Research Society. Paris, France: Trisomy 21 Research Society.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, March). CHAIRED SYMPOSIUM: Understanding cognitive development through the lens of intellectual disability syndromes: Studies of attention, memory, and numerical Cognition. International Convention of Psychological Science, symposium. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Association of Psychological Science.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, March). The interface of memory and perception in development: Boundary extension in infants, preschoolers, and atypical development. Chaired Symposium: Society for Research in Child Development Conference Symposium. Philadephia, PA: Society for Research in Child Development.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, September). We may sleep to speak: Sleep and learning in Down syndrome. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México colloquium. Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, Summer). Sleep and Learning. Grand Rounds at the Banner OBGYN. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona University Medical Center - Department of OBGYN.
• Spano, G., & Edgin, J. O. (2015, November). “Defining the relations between sleep and the cognitive phenotypes of individuals with Down syndrome: a lifespan developmental perspective”. 7th Quadrennial Congress of the World Sleep Federation. Istandbul, Turkey: World Sleep Federation.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, July). Understanding infant cognition through the lens of atypical development: Studies of attention, memory, and numerical cognition". International Conference on Infant Studies (symposium: Chair). Berlin, Germany.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, June). Rethinking memory in developmental disabilities: The case of Down syndrome. Center of Excellence in Neuroscience colloquium: Texas Tech. Texas Tech, El Paso,.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, March). Rethinking the memory profile in Down syndrome. Wellcome Trust workshop on Alzheimer's disease in Down syndrome: From molecules to cognition. Cambridge, UK: Wellcome Trust.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, November). New ideas about memory development. Psychonomic Society meeting (symposium). Long Beach, CA.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, October). Sleep as a marker of early neural development. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation meeting.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, September). Sleep and cognition in Down syndrome. Congress on Intellectual Disabilities. Acapulco, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, September). Sleep and cognition in Down syndrome. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Congress on Intellectual Disabilities. Acapulco, Mexico.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013, April). Age effects on executive function in a multi-site sample of youth with Down syndrome. Workshop on Cognition in Down Syndrome Molecular, Cellular and Behavioral Features and the Promise of Pharmacotherapies. Washington, DC: Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013, April). Assessing cognitive aging and decline in Down syndrome: Lessons learned from the validation of the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery. Workshop on Advancing Treatments in Alzheimer’s disease in Individuals with Down syndrome. Washington, DC: NIH.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013, April). The role of sleep in learning and memory in typical and atypical development. Biennial Conference of Society for Research in Child Development. Seattle, WA: Society for Research in Child Development.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013, April). symposium on “Memory for objects in spatial context: Developmental change examined with ERP, MRI and in atypical development”. Biennial Conference of Society for Research in Child Development. Seattle, WA: Society for Research in Child Development.
• Edgin, J. O. (2013, September). Sleep, cognition, and behavior in toddlers with Down syndrome. Emory University STEM Research and Career Symposium. Atlanta, GA: Emory University.
• Spano, G., & Edgin, J. O. (2013, June). Sleep spindle activity in Down syndrome: Effects of obstructive sleep apnea and cognitive correlates. 27th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Baltimore, MD: Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
• Edgin, J. O. (2012, Summer). Cognitive neuroscience approaches to memory impairment in Down syndrome. Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group meeting. Washington, DC: DSMIG-USA.

Poster Presentations

• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, Fall). Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. Sleep Research SocietySleep Research Society.
• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Klewer, S. E., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, Fall). Obstructive sleep apnea is a novel risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. American Heart AssociationAmerican Heart Association.
• Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Klewer, S. E., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., Combs, D., Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Klewer, S. E., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Combs, D. (2018, November). Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a Novel Risk Factor for Neurocognitive Impairment in Children with Congenital Heart Disease. 2018 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Chicago, IL.
• Parthasarathy, S., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Klewer, S. E., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., & Coombs, D. (2018, Nov). Obstructive sleep apnea is a novel risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in children with congenital heart disease. American Heart Association. Chicago.
• Edgin, J. O., & Sakhon, S. (2017, Spring). Mechanisms of word-learning in typical and atypical development. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting.
• Edgin, J. O., Anand, P., Misra, S., Demara, B., & Clark, C. (2017, Spring). The development of sleep and language in infants with Down syndrome. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Austin, TX.
• Edgin, J. O., Nyhuis, C., Sakhon, S., Luongo, A., Edwards, K., & Pisani, L. (2017, Spring). A novel computerized assessment for examining memory in children with intellectual disability. Gatlinburg Conference. San Antonio, TX.
• Edgin, J. O., Spano, G., Cowen, S. L., Gomez, R. L., & Demara, B. (2017, October). To Nap or Not to Nap?: Sleep-dependent Memory Consolidation in Typically and Atypically Developing Preschoolers. World Sleep 2017. Prague: World Sleep Congress.
• Parthasarathy, S., Edgin, J. O., Morgan, W. J., Quan, S. F., Goodwin, J., & Combs, D. (2017, June). Mother knows best? Comparing child and parent report of sleep parameters with polysomnography. 2017 meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
• Parthasarathy, S., Edgin, J. O., Morgan, W. J., Quan, S. F., Goodwin, J., & Combs, D. (2017, June). Mother knows best? Comparing child and parent report of sleep parameters with polysomnography. 2017 meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Boston, MA.
• Parthasarathy, S., Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., Barber, B. J., Edgin, J. O., Edgin, J. O., Combs, D., Combs, D., Parthasarathy, S., Abraham, I. L., Hsu, C., Morgan, W. J., Barber, B. J., , Edgin, J. O., et al. (2017, July). Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with memory impairment in children with congenital heart disease. 15th International Symposium on Sleep and Breathing. Madison, WI.
• Combs, D. A., Edgin, J. O., Archbold, K., Barber, B. J., Rice, S. A., Morgan, W. J., & Parthasarathy, S. (2015, May). Prevalence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Children with Congenital Heart Disease. 2015 International meeting of the American Thoracic Society. Denver, CO.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, February). Mechanisms of Word-learning in Typical and Atypical Development. Graduate Professional Student Council Student Showcase. Tucson, AZ.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, June). Assessing cognitive variability in Down syndrome - Test-Retest reliability & practice effects of The Arizona Cognitive Test Battery. DSMIG-USA Annual Symposium. Phoenix, AZ.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, June). Habitual Napping in Toddlers with Down Syndrome. DSMIG-USA Annual Symposium. Phoenix, AZ.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, March). Interactions between Memory and Perception: Evidence from Typical and Atypical Development. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, March). Sleep Quality, Language Development, and Autism Symptoms in Preschool-Age Children with Down Syndrome. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.
• Edgin, J. O. (2015, October). Defining the relations between sleep and the cognitive phenotypes of individuals with Down syndrome: a lifespan developmental perspective. 7th World Congress of the World Sleep Federation. Istanbul.
• Edgin, J. O., & Demara, B. (2015, March). The Importance of Sleep in Developmental Disorders. Annual Meeting of the Association for University Centers in Developmental Disability.
• Liu, Y., & Edgin, J. O. (2015, November). Relational Memory Performance in Adults: Do the Eyes Reflect Memory Ability?. Psychonomics Society Annual Meeting.
• Sakhon, S., & Edgin, J. O. (2015, December). Mechanisms of Word-learning in Typical and Atypical Development. Arizona Cognitive Science Conclave. Tucson, AZ.
• Spano, G. (2015, June). Sleep fragmentation and language in toddlers with Down Syndrome. 29th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Seattle, WA.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, July). The use of automated language environment analysis (LENA) in understanding language profiles in young children with Down syndrome. International Society on Infant Studies. Berlin, Germany.
• Edgin, J. O. (2014, October). Assessment of working memory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Results from a 6-month global longitudinal study in teenagers and young adults with Down syndrome. 138th Annual Meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Orlando, FL.
• Spano, G. (2014, June). Sleep fragmentation and language in toddlers with Down syndrome. 28th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Minneapolis, MN.

Others

• Rodriguez, A., Breslin, J. H., Mason, G. M., Bootzin, R. R., Nadel, L., & Edgin, J. O. (2012, 2011). THE CATECHOL-O-METHYLTRANSFERASE (COMT) GENE RELATES TO RESPIRATORY AROUSALS IN CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME. SLEEP.