Book Description

Introduction What are NDDs? 1.1.1 Need to Study NDD in India 1.1.2 Risk Factors of NDD 1.1.3 Genetic Architecture of NDD 1.2 What are Endophenotypes? 1.2.1 Types of Endophenotypes 1.2.2 Criteria for Establishing an Endophenotype 1.2.3 Importance of Studying Endophenotypes 1.3 Executive Functions 1.3.1 What is WM? 1.3.1.1 Origin and Significance of WM 1.3.2.2 Emergence of Modern-Day WM 1.3.2.3 Theories / Models of WM 1.3.2 Development of WM 1.3.3 Measures of WM 1.3.4 WM in Clinical Developmental Disorders 1.3.5 Importance of WM in the Parenting Context 1.4 Derivation of the Problem Tackled & Structure of the Present Study 1.4.1 Structure of the Present Study 1.5 Summary of the Chapter The genetics of brain-behavior relationships and cognition in healthy and diseased states are significant aspects of research and treatment in this century (Kremen et al., 2016). Along these lines, the delineation of cognitive endophenotype for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) is useful for exploring and studying the genetic underpinnings. It helps identify the cognitive traits pertinent to the disorder (Wong et al., 2006). Therefore, this study investigates if working memory (WM) can be considered a promising cognitive endophenotype in parents of children with NDD from our Indian subcontinent. This chapter works towards an introduction of these three critical concepts of the present study, which are: (a) NDD (b) Endophenotypes (c) WM Each of the concepts is discussed as pertinent to this study. The text across the manuscript is inserted with boxes of easy-to-read points on what the section seeks to convey. 1.1 What are NDDs? Many mental disorders of childhood and adolescence mark their onset in the early to middle childhood years. Some have their onset in the developmental period of a child. The phase of rapid skill acquisition is denoted during the child's development (Stoodley, 2016),