Developing spatial frequency biases for face recognition in autism and Williams syndrome.
Autistic kids eventually pick the same medium-detail face cues as peers, but Williams syndrome kids never do—so tailor your visual materials to the syndrome, not the label "developmental delay."
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at how kids with autism and Williams syndrome learn to spot faces. They tested three groups: autism, Williams syndrome, and typical kids. Each child saw face pictures that were filtered to show only thick, medium, or thin visual stripes. The testers asked, "Which pictures are faces?" and tracked how answers changed with age.
They wanted to know if each group grows into the same "medium-stripe" bias most people use for faces.
What they found
Typical kids moved toward medium stripes as they got older. Kids with autism also shifted to medium stripes, just a little later. Kids with Williams syndrome never picked the thin, high-detail stripes at any age. Their face system stayed stuck on low-detail, wide stripes.
The study shows autism follows a delayed but typical path, while Williams syndrome takes a different road entirely.
How this fits with other research
Spriggs et al. (2015) extends these results by adding Down syndrome and mapping "face shape" skills instead of stripes. Together the papers warn us: each syndrome has its own growth curve, so match lessons to mental age, not birthday.
Emerson et al. (2007) and Lacroix et al. (2009) came first. They showed autism and Williams syndrome score differently when faces are upside or show feelings. The 2011 study keeps the same two-syndrome setup but looks earlier in the pipeline—at basic stripe preference—explaining why those later-stage differences appear.
Morin et al. (2015) seems to disagree at first glance. That paper says autistic adults only struggle when the face angle changes, blaming a "local bias." The 2011 data resolve the clash: the local bias starts with delayed tuning to medium stripes in childhood. Same root, tested at different ages.
Why it matters
When you teach face-emotion programs, check which stripes a child uses. For autism, give extra practice with mid-detail faces until the shift kicks in. For Williams syndrome, skip high-detail photo cards; use big, clear features instead. And never copy one syndrome's protocol for the other—their eyes are built on different blueprints.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Test a child’s face learning with both high-detail photos and low-detail cartoon faces, then teach with the format they pick fastest.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The current study investigated whether contrasting face recognition abilities in autism and Williams syndrome could be explained by different spatial frequency biases over developmental time. Typically-developing children and groups with Williams syndrome and autism were asked to recognise faces in which low, middle and high spatial frequency bands were masked. All three groups demonstrated a gradual specialisation toward the mid-band. However, while the use of high spatial frequencies decreased in control and autism groups over development, the Williams syndrome group did not display a bias toward this band at any point. These data demonstrate that typical outcomes can be achieved through atypical developmental processes, and confirm the importance of cross-syndrome studies in the investigation of developmental disorders.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2011 · doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1115-7