title: Poor facial affect recognition among boys with duchenne muscular dystrophy.
abstract: Children with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy (MD) have delayed language and poor social skills and some meet criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorder, yet they are identified by molecular, rather than behavioral, characteristics. To determine whether comprehension of facial affect is compromised in boys with MD, children were given a matching-to-sample test with four types of visual recognition (Object, Face, Affect, and Situation matching) developed by Lucci and Fein. Within-group analyses on 50 boys with MD found decreased Affect matching relative to the other matching conditions. Between-group comparisons on 20 sibling pairs found the boys with Duchenne performed more poorly only on the Affect-matching condition. Thus, mildly impaired facial affect recognition may be part of the phenotype associated with Duchenne or Becker MD.
authors.affiliation: Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Department of Neurology, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, P & S Box 16, New York, NY 10032, USA. vjh9@columbia.edu
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Hinton
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Fee
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: De Vivo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D010641:Phenotype; D035781:Siblings