Goldman K J, Burack J A, Shulman C
School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem, Israel.
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2016 Oct;60(10):982-92. doi: 10.1111/jir.12316. Epub 2016 Aug 9.
Despite high levels of social engagement, the social competence of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) is frequently compromised. This descriptive study explores the ability of young people with WS to learn from facial expressions when provided as a source of feedback for their actions.
Using a novel task, the ability to interpret facial expressions and adapt behaviour after receiving feedback in the form of happy or angry faces was assessed in 12 participants with WS aged between 10 and 28 years and with a mean nonverbal mental age of 6.5 years, and in typically developing (TD) children aged between 4 and 7 years.
Individuals with WS were able to use facial expressions as feedback in a manner commensurate with their mental age, only when other cognitive demands were low. Their performance profile differed from that of the TD children matched for mental age and from the performance profile of 4 year olds.
Possible explanations for the unique performance profile observed in the participants with WS are discussed. The results highlight the need to examine social competencies in the context of the cognitive demands characteristic of social environments.
尽管威廉姆斯综合征（WS）患者的社交参与度较高，但其社交能力常常受到损害。这项描述性研究探讨了患有WS的年轻人在将面部表情作为其行为反馈来源时学习面部表情的能力。
采用一项新颖的任务，对12名年龄在10至28岁之间、平均非语言心理年龄为6.5岁的WS患者以及4至7岁的发育正常（TD）儿童进行评估，观察他们在收到开心或愤怒表情形式的反馈后解读面部表情并调整行为的能力。
只有在其他认知需求较低时，患有WS的个体才能以与其心理年龄相称的方式将面部表情用作反馈。他们的表现模式不同于心理年龄匹配的TD儿童以及4岁儿童的表现模式。
讨论了在患有WS的参与者中观察到的独特表现模式的可能解释。结果强调了在社会环境特有的认知需求背景下检验社交能力的必要性。
