Social Cognition in Down Syndrome: Face Tuning in Face-Like Non-Face Images

Abstract

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are widely believed to possess considerable socialization strengths. However, the findings on social cognition capabilities are controversial. In the present study, we investigated whether individuals with DS exhibit shortage in face tuning, one of the indispensable components of social cognition. For this purpose, we implemented a recently developed Face-n-Food paradigm with food-plate images composed of food ingredients such as fruits and vegetables. The key benefit of such face-like non-face images is that single elements do not facilitate face processing. In a spontaneous recognition task, 25 children with DS aged 9 to 18 years were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style. The set of images was administered in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. In DS individuals, thresholds for recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face were drastically higher as compared not only with typically developing controls, but also with individuals with autistic spectrum disorders and Williams-Beuren syndrome. This outcome represents a significant step toward better conceptualization of the visual social world in DS and neurodevelopmental disorders in general.

Keywords: Down syndrome; Face-n-Food paradigm; face resemblance; neurodevelopmental disorders; visual social cognition.

FIGURE 1

Examples of the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style. ‘Summer’ (left) and ‘Whimsical Portrait’ (right) by Guiseppe Arcimboldo (1526–1593), an Italian painter best known for creating fascinating, often grotesque and allegoric, imaginative portraits composed of fruits, vegetables, plants, tree roots, flowers, and even books and human/animal bodies (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo; https://www.bridgemanimages.com/; public domain).

FIGURE 2

Examples of Face-n-Food images. The least resembling face (left panel) and most resembling face (right panel) images from the Face-n-Food task (from Pavlova et al., 2015). © The Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY 4.0].

FIGURE 3

Percentage of face responses for each Face-n-Food image in individuals with Down syndrome (orange), typically developing (TD) controls (green) and individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD; violet). The image number reflects its face resemblance (1 – the least recognizable through 10 – the most recognizable as a face). Vertical bars represent 95% confidence interval, CI. The data for TD participants and individuals with ASD had been reported earlier (Pavlova et al., 2017b). © The Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY 4.0].