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. 2022 Jan 17;37(1):63-77.
doi: 10.1093/arclin/acab042.

The Impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomies (XXX, XXY, XYY) on Early Social Cognition: Social Orienting, Joint Attention, and Theory of Mind

N Bouw, H Swaab, N Tartaglia, S van Rijn

The Impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomies (XXX, XXY, XYY) on Early Social Cognition: Social Orienting, Joint Attention, and Theory of Mind

N Bouw et al. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. .

Abstract

Objective: About 1:650-1,000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (XXX; XXY; XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This study aims to cross-sectionally investigate the impact of SCT on early social cognitive skills. Basic orienting toward social cues, joint attention, and theory of mind (ToM) in young children with SCT were evaluated.

Method: About 105 children with SCT (range: 1-7 years old) were included in this study, as well as 96 age-matched nonclinical controls. Eyetracking paradigms were used to investigate the eye gaze patterns indicative of joint attention skills and orienting to social interactions. The ToM abilities were measured using the subtest ToM of the Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment, second edition, neuropsychological test battery. Recruitment and assessment took place in the Netherlands and in the United States.

Results: Eyetracking results revealed difficulties in children with SCT in social orienting. These difficulties were more pronounced in children aged 3 years and older, and in boys with 47,XYY. Difficulties in joint attention were found over all age groups and karyotypes. Children with SCT showed impairments in ToM (26.3% in the [well] below expected level), increasing with age. These impairments did not differ between karyotypes.

Conclusions: An impact of SCT on social cognitive abilities was found already at an early age, indicating the need for early monitoring and support of early social cognition. Future research should explore the longitudinal trajectories of social development in order to evaluate the predictive relationships between social cognition and outcome later in life in terms of social functioning and the risk for psychopathology.

Keywords: Eyetracking; Joint attention; Sex chromosome trisomy; Social orienting; Theory of mind; Young children.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Screenshots of the video clips in the joint attention paradigm (A) and the social orienting paradigm (B).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Theory of mind and age for the sex chromosome trisomy and control groups.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Joint attention: DS gaze shifts and age for the sex chromosome trisomy and control groups. Notes: DS gaze shifts: difference scores between gaze shifts from area of interest (AOI) adult to AOI attended object minus gaze shifts from AOI adult to AOI unattended object.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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