Recognition of emotional and nonemotional facial expressions: a comparison between Williams syndrome and autism.
Kids with Williams syndrome read emotional faces worse than same-age peers with autism, so plan extra emotion-teaching trials.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team compared two groups of kids. One group had Williams syndrome. The other group had autism. Both groups were the same age and had similar talking skills.
Each child looked at photos of faces. Some faces showed happy, sad, or angry feelings. Other faces showed no feeling at all. The kids had to name the feeling or say there was no feeling.
What they found
Kids with Williams syndrome named fewer emotions than kids with autism. They also made more mistakes on faces that showed no feeling. The gap stayed even when both groups had the same verbal level.
How this fits with other research
Emerson et al. (2007) saw a similar pattern two years earlier. They found Williams kids beat autism kids on upright happy or sad faces but lost when the same faces were upside-down. The new study keeps the upright view and still shows the Williams group lagging.
Ikeda et al. (2023) tracked the same kids for years. They saw emotion skills grow slowly in both autism and typical kids. Williams kids stayed on their own slower track. The 2009 snapshot now looks like a true long-term gap, not a one-time fluke.
Ching-Zhang et al. (2022) removed the autism group and tested only Williams kids with short stories. Those kids also lagged behind mental-age peers. The trouble is not just photos; it is emotion knowledge itself.
Why it matters
When you test social perception, do not assume Williams syndrome means "social strength." These kids may smile a lot yet still mis-read faces. Add extra emotion-teaching trials and use clear, labeled photos. Pair each feeling word with the exact face you want them to learn. Check progress often; the gap seen in 2009 is still there in 2023 data.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The aim of our study was to compare two neurodevelopmental disorders (Williams syndrome and autism) in terms of the ability to recognize emotional and nonemotional facial expressions. The comparison of these two disorders is particularly relevant to the investigation of face processing and should contribute to a better understanding of social behaviour and social cognition. Twelve participants with WS (from 6;1 to 15 years) and twelve participants with autism (from 4;9 to 8 years) were matched on verbal mental age. Their performances were compared with those of twelve typically developing controls matched on verbal mental age (from 3;1 to 9;2). A set of five tasks assessing different dimensions of emotional and nonemotional facial recognition were administered. Results indicated that recognition of emotional facial expressions is more impaired in Williams syndrome than in autism. Our study comparing Williams syndrome and autism over a small age range highlighted two distinct profiles which call into question the relationships between social behaviour/cognition and emotion perception.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.02.002