Learning by observation and learning by doing in Down and Williams syndromes.

skills may be learned by active experience (experiential learning or learning by\r\ndoing) or by observation of others’ experience (learning by observation). In general,\r\nlearning by observation reduces the time and the attempts needed to learn complex\r\nactions and behaviors. The present research aimed to compare learning by observation\r\nand learning by doing in two clinical populations with different etiology of intellectual\r\ndisability (ID), as individuals with Down syndrome (DS) and individuals with\r\nWilliams syndrome (WS), with the hypothesis that specific profiles of learning may be\r\nfound in each syndrome. To this end, we used a mixture of new and existing data to\r\ncompare the performances of 24 individuals with DS, 24 individuals with WS and 24\r\ntypically developing children on computerized tasks of learning by observation or\r\nlearning by doing. The main result was that the two groups with ID exhibited distinct\r\npatterns of learning by observation. Thus, individuals with DS were impaired in reproducing\r\nthe previously observed visuo-motor\r\nsequence, while they were as efficient as\r\nTD children in the experiential learning task. On the other hand, individuals with WS\r\nbenefited from the observational training while they were severely impaired in detecting\r\nthe visuo-motor\r\nsequence in the experiential learning task (when presented first).\r\nThe present findings reinforce the syndrome-specific\r\nhypothesis and the view of ID as\r\na variety of conditions in which some cognitive functions are more disrupted than others\r\nbecause of the differences in genetic profile and brain morphology and functionality.\r\nThese findings have important implications for clinicians, who should take into\r\naccount the genetic etiology of ID in developing learning programs for treatment and\r\neducation.