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Facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome: A matching and developmental study

Martínez-Castilla, P.; Burt, M.; Borgatti, R.; Gagliardi, C.

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Authors

P. Martínez-Castilla

R. Borgatti

C. Gagliardi



Abstract

In this study both the matching and developmental trajectories approaches were used to clarify questions that remain open in the literature on facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS). The matching approach showed that individuals with WS or DS exhibit neither proficiency for the expression of happiness nor specific impairments for negative emotions. Instead, they present the same pattern of emotion recognition as typically developing (TD) individuals. Thus, the better performance on the recognition of positive compared to negative emotions usually reported in WS and DS is not specific of these populations but seems to represent a typical pattern. Prior studies based on the matching approach suggested that the development of facial emotion recognition is delayed in WS and atypical in DS. Nevertheless, and even though performance levels were lower in DS than in WS, the developmental trajectories approach used in this study evidenced that not only individuals with DS but also those with WS present atypical development in facial emotion recognition. Unlike in the TD participants, where developmental changes were observed along with age, in the WS and DS groups, the development of facial emotion recognition was static. Both individuals with WS and those with DS reached an early maximum developmental level due to cognitive constraints.

Citation

Martínez-Castilla, P., Burt, M., Borgatti, R., & Gagliardi, C. (2015). Facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome: A matching and developmental study. Child Neuropsychology, 21(5), 668-692. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2014.945408

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 11, 2014
Online Publication Date Aug 7, 2014
Publication Date Sep 1, 2015
Deposit Date Dec 10, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Child Neuropsychology
Print ISSN 0929-7049
Electronic ISSN 1744-4136
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 21
Issue 5
Pages 668-692
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2014.945408
Keywords Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, Facial emotion recognition, Matching, Developmental trajectories.

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