Year: 2000
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Studies of abnormal populations provide a rare opportunity for examining relationships between cognition, genotype and brain neurobiology, permitting comparisons across these different levels of analysis. In our studies, we investigate individuals with a rare, genetically based disorder called Williams syndrome (WMS) to draw links among these levels. A critical component of such a cross-domain undertaking is the clear delineation of the phenotype of the disorder in question. Of special interest in this paper is a relatively unexplored unusual social phenotype in WMS that includes an overfriendly and engaging personality. Four studies measuring distinct aspects of hypersocial behavior in WMS are presented, each probing specific aspects in WMS infants, toddlers, school age children, and adults. The abnormal profile of excessively social behavior represents an important component of the phenotype that may distinguish WMS from other developmental disorders. Furthermore, the studies show that the profile is observed across a wide range of ages, and emerges consistently across multiple experimental paradigms. These studies of hypersocial behavior in WMS promise to provide the groundwork for crossdisciplinary analyses of gene-brain-behavior relationships.
Authors: Wendy Jones, Ursula Bellugi, Zona Lai, Michael Chiles, Judy Reilly, Alan Lincoln, Ralph Adolphs
Language: English
Topic: Williams Syndrome Research
Subfield: Developmental Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W2109056388