Attention to faces in Williams syndrome.
Williams syndrome gaze sticks to faces because learners disengage slowly, not because faces grab them first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 24 people with Williams syndrome to look at pictures on a screen.
Some pictures showed faces, others showed objects.
They tracked eye movement and timed how fast each person looked away.
What they found
Faces did not grab attention faster than objects.
The big difference: once a face was stared at, it took longer to look away.
In plain words, the "sticky gaze" is a slow-release problem, not a magnet problem.
How this fits with other research
Emerson et al. (2007) saw WS learners name upright faces better than upside-down ones.
That skill fits today’s data: faces are not missed, just held too long.
Ng et al. (2016) added heart-rate data and found no extra jump when angry faces appeared.
Together the three papers show the same story: attention starts normal, then lingers.
Why it matters
When you see a client with WS staring too long, do not assume deep interest.
Prompt a shift: say the client’s name, tap the table, or move the picture.
Short cues teach faster release and keep the lesson moving.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with distinct social behaviours. One component of the WS social phenotype is atypically prolonged face fixation. This behaviour co-exists with attention difficulties. Attention is multi-faceted and may impact on gaze behaviour in several ways. Four experiments assessed (i) attention capture by faces, (ii) interference from facial stimuli, (iii) face bias, and (iv) attention disengagement. Individuals with WS were compared to typically developing participants of comparable nonverbal ability and chronological age. The first three experiments revealed no atypicality of attention to faces in WS. However, in experiment 4 there was a suggestion that individuals with WS (compared to those developing typically) found it much more time consuming to disengage from faces than objects. The results are discussed in terms of attention abnormalities and possible face disengagement difficulties in WS.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2011 · doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1141-5