Deruelle C, Mancini J, Livet M O, Cassé-Perrot C, de Schonen S
Center of Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, CNRS, Marseille, France.
Brain Cogn. 1999 Dec;41(3):276-98. doi: 10.1006/brcg.1999.1127.
Three experiments investigated face processing in children with Williams syndrome (WS). In Experiment 1, the ability to discriminate different aspects of faces was compared between WS subjects and a group of children individually matched for chronological age (CA-matches) and another group matched for mental age (MA-matches). In Experiments 2 and 3, the ability to process the local and configural aspects of geometrical patterns and faces was assessed within the same groups of subjects. The results indicated that the WSs' overall performance on face recognition was below that of the CA-matches, but similar to that of the MA-matches. This study revealed in addition that the CA- and MA-matches showed a bias toward a configural mode of face and geometrical shape processing, whereas children with WS did not show any bias. These findings suggest that face processing undergoes an abnormal developmental course in WS.
三项实验研究了威廉姆斯综合征（WS）患儿的面部加工能力。在实验1中，比较了WS患儿与一组按实际年龄匹配的儿童（CA匹配组）以及另一组按心理年龄匹配的儿童（MA匹配组）辨别面部不同方面的能力。在实验2和实验3中，在同一组受试者中评估了处理几何图案和面部的局部和整体方面的能力。结果表明，WS患儿在人脸识别方面的总体表现低于CA匹配组，但与MA匹配组相似。此外，该研究还发现，CA匹配组和MA匹配组在面部和几何形状加工的整体模式上存在偏向，而WS患儿则没有表现出任何偏向。这些发现表明，WS患儿的面部加工经历了异常的发育过程。
