Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning
Many neurological, neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic disorders are characterized by impairments in visual social cognition, body language reading, and facial assessment of a social counterpart. Yet a wealth of research indicates that individuals with Williams syndrome exhibit re...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-08-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01131/full |
| _version_ | 1811261987195191296 |
|---|---|
| author | Marina A Pavlova Julie Heiz Alexander N. Sokolov Koviljka Barisnikov |
| author_facet | Marina A Pavlova Julie Heiz Alexander N. Sokolov Koviljka Barisnikov |
| author_sort | Marina A Pavlova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many neurological, neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic disorders are characterized by impairments in visual social cognition, body language reading, and facial assessment of a social counterpart. Yet a wealth of research indicates that individuals with Williams syndrome exhibit remarkable concern for social stimuli and face fascination. Here individuals with Williams syndrome were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images composed of food ingredients and in different degree resembling a face (slightly bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style). The primary advantage of these images is that single components do not explicitly trigger face-specific processing, whereas in face images commonly used for investigating face perception (such as photographs or depictions), the mere occurrence of typical cues already implicates face presence. In a spontaneous recognition task, participants were shown a set of images in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. Strikingly, individuals with Williams syndrome exhibited profound deficits in recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face: they did not report seeing a face on the images, which typically developing controls effortlessly recognized as a face, and gave overall fewer face responses. This suggests atypical face tuning in Williams syndrome. The outcome is discussed in the light of a general pattern of social cognition in Williams syndrome and brain mechanisms underpinning face processing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:15:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4a44f0d8f8f14ed39b5b7642633b2064 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:15:39Z |
| publishDate | 2016-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-4a44f0d8f8f14ed39b5b7642633b20642022-12-22T03:19:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-08-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.01131204963Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuningMarina A Pavlova0Julie Heiz1Alexander N. Sokolov2Koviljka Barisnikov3Eberhard Karls University of TübingenUniversity of GenevaEberhard Karls University of TübingenUniversity of GenevaMany neurological, neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic disorders are characterized by impairments in visual social cognition, body language reading, and facial assessment of a social counterpart. Yet a wealth of research indicates that individuals with Williams syndrome exhibit remarkable concern for social stimuli and face fascination. Here individuals with Williams syndrome were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images composed of food ingredients and in different degree resembling a face (slightly bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style). The primary advantage of these images is that single components do not explicitly trigger face-specific processing, whereas in face images commonly used for investigating face perception (such as photographs or depictions), the mere occurrence of typical cues already implicates face presence. In a spontaneous recognition task, participants were shown a set of images in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. Strikingly, individuals with Williams syndrome exhibited profound deficits in recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face: they did not report seeing a face on the images, which typically developing controls effortlessly recognized as a face, and gave overall fewer face responses. This suggests atypical face tuning in Williams syndrome. The outcome is discussed in the light of a general pattern of social cognition in Williams syndrome and brain mechanisms underpinning face processing.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01131/fullWilliams Syndromesocial cognitionBrain mechanismsface resemblanceFace-n-Food paradigmface encoding |
| spellingShingle | Marina A Pavlova Julie Heiz Alexander N. Sokolov Koviljka Barisnikov Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning Frontiers in Psychology Williams Syndrome social cognition Brain mechanisms face resemblance Face-n-Food paradigm face encoding |
| title | Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning |
| title_full | Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning |
| title_fullStr | Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning |
| title_short | Social cognition in Williams syndrome: face tuning |
| title_sort | social cognition in williams syndrome face tuning |
| topic | Williams Syndrome social cognition Brain mechanisms face resemblance Face-n-Food paradigm face encoding |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01131/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marinaapavlova socialcognitioninwilliamssyndromefacetuning AT julieheiz socialcognitioninwilliamssyndromefacetuning AT alexandernsokolov socialcognitioninwilliamssyndromefacetuning AT koviljkabarisnikov socialcognitioninwilliamssyndromefacetuning |