Dodd Helen F, Porter Melanie A
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Cogn Neuropsychiatry. 2010 Nov;15(6):549-67. doi: 10.1080/13546801003737157. Epub 2010 Apr 21.
Observations of behaviour and research using eyetracking technology have shown that individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) pay an unusual amount of attention to other people's faces. The present research examines whether this attention to faces is moderated by the valence of emotional expression.
Sixteen participants with WS aged between 13 and 29 years (mean = 19 years 9 months) completed a dot-probe task in which pairs of faces displaying happy, angry, and neutral expressions were presented. The performance of the WS group was compared to two groups of typically developing control participants, individually matched to the participants in the WS group on either chronological age or mental age. General mental age was assessed in the WS group using the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability-Revised (WJ-COG-R; Woodcock & Johnson, 1989/1990).
Compared to both control groups, the WS group exhibited a greater attention bias for happy faces. In contrast, no between-group differences in bias for angry faces were obtained.
The results are discussed in relation to recent neuroimaging findings and the hypersocial behaviour that is characteristic of the WS population.
行为观察以及使用眼动追踪技术开展的研究表明，威廉姆斯综合征（WS）患者会异常关注他人的面部。本研究探讨了这种对面部的关注是否会受到情绪表达效价的调节。
16名年龄在13至29岁之间（平均年龄为19岁9个月）的威廉姆斯综合征患者完成了一项点探测任务，任务中呈现了展示快乐、愤怒和中性表情的成对面孔。将威廉姆斯综合征组的表现与两组发育正常的对照参与者进行比较，这两组对照参与者在实际年龄或心理年龄上与威廉姆斯综合征组的参与者分别匹配。使用伍德科克-约翰逊认知能力测验修订版（WJ-COG-R；伍德科克和约翰逊，1989/1990）对威廉姆斯综合征组的一般心理年龄进行评估。
与两个对照组相比，威廉姆斯综合征组对快乐面孔表现出更大的注意力偏向。相比之下，在愤怒面孔的偏向方面未获得组间差异。
结合最近的神经影像学研究结果以及威廉姆斯综合征人群特有的高度社交行为对研究结果进行了讨论。
