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The main goal of this study was to explore this adaptation of a group of Mexican people with DS aged 12-30 years during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze the relationships among eight domains of executive function and mental and chronological age. The participants were 50 people with DS with a chronological age (CA) of 12-30 years and a mean mental age (MA) of 7 years. MA was evaluated with Raven’s Progressive Matrices test and executive function with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2); both were administered online. The Monitor, Emotional Control, Initiative, and Organization of Materials scales showed strengths, while Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Shift, and Inhibit showed weaknesses. CA correlated negatively with seven of the eight executive domains, while MA correlated negatively with two. Participants’ executive profile during the COVID-19 pandemic is consistent with that reported in previous research, and the findings are discussed in self-regulation process.

From the second year of life, children with typical development (TD) demonstrate the ability to form word-word relations. However, this ability has received little attention in children with Down syndrome (DS). We investigated their ability to establish associative relationships between words that tend to occur in the same context. Two groups of children (TD and DS) matched by sex and mental age (mean 3.80 years) participated in a preferential looking test. A priming task using an eye-tracking technique in ten trials introduced associatively related versus unrelated word pairs. Participants in both groups were asked to find a target image (e.g. hen) when they heard an associative prime that was related (e.g. egg) or unrelated (e.g. door), and the mean proportion of target looking was then calculated. Both groups showed an associative priming effect. The results suggest that people with DS possess a lexical organisation. This study represents a first step in understanding lexical networks, an important factor in language processing, in people with DS, which could be used to design interventions or educational strategies for language therapy.

Background: The perceptual similarity between two objects, specifically similarity in the shape of the referents, is a crucial element for relating words in earlier stages of development. The role of this perceptual similarity has not been systematically explored in children with Down syndrome (DS). Method: The aim was to explore the role of perceptual similarity in relationships between words in children with DS. Two groups, children with typical development (TD) and children with DS, matched by gender and mental age, participated in a priming task with a preferential looking paradigm. The task presented validated perceptually-related word pairs (prime-target) and perceptually unrelated pairs. In the priming task both groups were asked to look at a target image (e.g. "ball") that was perceptually related (e.g. cookie) or unrelated (e.g. "skirt") to the prime. Results: Participants from both groups looked more at targets without perceptual similarity than at those with similarity to the prime, suggesting an inhibition effect. Conclusions: This finding suggests the role of visual information, particularly the shape of the referents, in the construction of the lexical system.

BackgroundAimMethodResultsConclusionThe aim was to explore the executive function profile of a group of Mexican people with Down syndrome (DS) aged 12–30 years during the COVID-19 pandemic.To analyse the relationships between mental, chronological age and eight domains of executive function.Participants were 42 people with DS with a chronological age (CA) of 12–30 years and a mean nonverbal mental age (MA) of 7 years. MA was evaluated with Raven’s Progressive Matrices test and executive function with the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2); both were administered online.The Monitor, Emotional Control, Initiative, and Organisation of Materials scales showed strengths, while Working Memory, Plan/Organise, Shift, and Inhibit scales showed weaknesses. CA correlated negatively with seven of the eight executive domains. Chronologically older participants showed less impairment in skills such as inhibition, emotional control, working memory, and monitoring. Nonverbal MA correlated negatively with two domains: emotional control and monitoring.Participants’ executive profile during the COVID-19 pandemic was consistent with that reported in studies prior to the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British attempts to reform or close down the indentured labour system as it applied to Chinese labourers across the British empire were carried out on an ad hoc basis, one colony at a time. In the southwest Pacific islands indentured labour recruitment was retained into the 1930s and beyond. Between 1920 and 1953 thousands of Chinese workers suffered under penal clauses for labour offences and endured harsh conditions on contracts that often extended beyond five years. This article investigates the means by which colonial authorities in Hong Kong and the southwest Pacific were able to maintain the indentured labour system despite the British Colonial Office preference for abolition. It compares government correspondence, labour contracts and ordinances from Nauru under British-Australian mandate, Western Samoa under New Zealand mandate, and the Anglo-French Condominium of New Hebrides (Vanuatu). It demonstrates that Chinese indentured labourers were retained with only minor changes to their contracts, put in place for the most part so that colonial administrators could avoid national and international censure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to a journal section is presented which discusses reports within the issue on topics related to Chinese indentured labour such as the abolition of the Cuban coolie trade, the political legacy of Chinese indenture in South Africa, and indenture policies in the Netherlands.