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Heterogeneity of social approach behaviour in Williams syndrome: The role of response inhibition

Little, K.; Riby, D.M.; Janes, E.; Fleck, R.; Clark, F.; Rodgers, J.

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Authors

K. Little

E. Janes

R. Fleck

F. Clark

J. Rodgers



Abstract

The developmental disorder of Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with an overfriendly personality type, including an increased tendency to approach strangers. This atypical social approach behaviour (SAB) has been linked to two potential theories: the amygdala hypothesis and the frontal lobe hypothesis. The current study aimed to investigate heterogeneity of SAB in WS by exploring whether subgroups of SAB profiles could be identified using cluster analytic techniques. Twenty-five children with WS aged 6–15 years completed three behavioural tasks tapping (i) social approach behaviour, (ii) emotion recognition ability and (iii) response inhibition. Cluster analyses revealed preliminary evidence of WS subgroups based on SAB profiles and indicated that response inhibition ability was the key differentiating variable between SAB cluster profiles. The findings provide tentative support for the frontal lobe hypothesis of SAB in WS and highlight the importance of investigating SAB at a heterogeneous level.

Citation

Little, K., Riby, D., Janes, E., Fleck, R., Clark, F., & Rodgers, J. (2013). Heterogeneity of social approach behaviour in Williams syndrome: The role of response inhibition. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(3), 959-967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2012.11.020

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Mar 1, 2013
Deposit Date Jul 2, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Research in Developmental Disabilities
Print ISSN 0891-4222
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 3
Pages 959-967
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2012.11.020
Keywords Williams syndrome, Social approach, Inhibition, Frontal lobe, Amygdala.

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Research in Developmental Disabilities. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34, 3, March 2013, 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.11.020.





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