title: Cross-modal influences of affect across social and non-social domains in individuals with Williams syndrome.
abstract: The Williams syndrome (WS) cognitive profile is characterized by relative strengths in face processing, an attentional bias towards social stimuli, and an increased affinity and emotional reactivity to music. An audio-visual integration study examined the effects of auditory emotion on visual (social/non-social) affect identification in individuals with WS and typically developing (TD) and developmentally delayed (DD) controls. The social bias in WS was hypothesized to manifest as an increased ability to process social than non-social affect, and a reduced auditory influence in social contexts. The control groups were hypothesized to perform similarly across conditions. The results showed that while participants with WS exhibited indistinguishable performance to TD controls in identifying facial affect, DD controls performed significantly more poorly. The TD group outperformed the WS and DD groups in identifying non-social affect. The results suggest that emotionally evocative music facilitated the ability of participants with WS to process emotional facial expressions. These surprisingly strong facial-processing skills in individuals with WS may have been due to the effects of combining social and music stimuli and to a reduction in anxiety due to the music in particular. Several directions for future research are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037-1099, USA. pasley@salk.edu
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Järvinen-Pasley
authors.forename: Bradley W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Vines
authors.forename: Kiley J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yam
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grichanik
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Allan L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.forename: Julie R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Korenberg
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bellugi
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D012938:Social Perception; D018980:Williams Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult