201. Speed of processing and executive functions in adults with phenylketonuria: Quick in finding the word, but not the ladybird.
- Author
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Romani C, MacDonald A, De Felice S, and Palermo L
- Subjects
- Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Phenylketonurias pathology, Executive Function physiology, Neuropsychological Tests standards, Phenylketonurias diagnosis
- Abstract
A reduction in processing speed is widely reported in phenylketonuria (PKU), possibly due to white matter pathology. We investigated possible deficits and their relationships with executive functions in a sample of 37 early-treated adults with PKU (AwPKUs). AwPKUs were not characterized by a generalized speed deficit, but instead their performance could be explained by two more specific impairments: (a) a deficit in the allocation of visuo-spatial attention that reduced speed in visual search tasks, in some reading conditions and visuo-motor coordination tasks; and (b) a more conservative decision mechanism that slowed down returning an answer across domains. These results suggest that the impairments in executive functions seen in AwPKUs are not the consequence of a generalized speed deficit. They also suggest that processing speed is linked to the efficiency of a particular cognitive component and cannot be considered a general function spanning domains. Similarities with patterns in ageing are discussed.
- Published
- 2018
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