The role of stereotypies in overselectivity process in Rett syndrome.
Ten Rett syndrome (RS) girls and 10 control girls executed an attentional task in which a complex stimulus was shown followed by individual stimuli presented with distractors. Participants had to discriminate previously presented stimuli from distractors. RS girls carried out the task both in a condition with the containment of stereotypies and in a no-containment condition. Overselectivity occurred in RS since patients failed to discriminate about 1/3 of the individual stimuli. There were no statistical differences with respect to the number of correct responses in the two conditions; RS girls learned quickly when their stereotypies were contained as opposed to when the containment of stereotypies was lacking.
Fabio
Rosa Angela
RA
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milano, Italy. rosaangela.fabio@unicatt.it
Giannatiempo
Samantha
S
Antonietti
Alessandro
A
Budden
Sarojini
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015518:Rett Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult