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. 2013 Nov;43(11):2549-57.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1804-0.

Toddlers with Williams syndrome process upright but not inverted faces holistically

Cara H Cashon  1 , Oh-Ryeong Ha, Christopher A DeNicola, Carolyn B Mervis
Affiliations

Toddlers with Williams syndrome process upright but not inverted faces holistically

Cara H Cashon et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Holistic processing of upright, but not inverted, faces is a marker of perceptual expertise for faces. This pattern is shown by typically developing individuals beginning at age 7 months. Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by extreme interest in faces from a very young age. Research on the effects of inversion on holistic processing of faces by older children and adults with WS has produced mixed results. Younger children with WS were not included in these previous studies. Using the habituation switch paradigm, we demonstrated that 15-35-month-olds with WS process upright, but not inverted, faces holistically. This study provides evidence of perceptual expertise for faces in individuals with WS early in life.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of stimuli presented in habituation and test phases. Note. Adapted from “Sitting pp is hard to do: A U-shaped relation between sitting ability and holistic face processing in infants,” by C. H. Cashon, O. Ha, C. L. Allen, and A. C. Barna (2012), Child Development. doi:10.1111/cdev.12024. Copyright 2012 by Wiley and Sons, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plots representing looking times during upright and inverted test trials. The bottom of the box represents the 25th percentile (Q1), the center line the 50th percentile, and the top line the 75th percentile (Q3). Whiskers and extreme values were computed using Tukey’s hinges method. Extreme values, indicated with circles, are scores that are more than 1.5 times the interquartile range (Q3-Q1) above Q3 or more than 1.5 times the interquartile range below Q1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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