Host: The Japanese Society for Cognitive Psychology
Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder by a hemizygous deletion in chromosome 7. WS is relatively preserved in the processing of faces and often shows ASD characteristics. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between clinical characteristics and face memories in WS. We employed 18 WS (mean age: 25.2) and 16 children with typical development (TD) (mean age: 6.5), who performed tasks of face memory and approachability to the faces. ASD characteristics in all participants was assessed by SRS, which was scored by their parents. WS participants were divided into high (WS-H) and low (WS-L) groups by levels of language development. WS-H and TD showed a significant enhancement of memories for low and high approachable faces but not WS-L. In addition, WS-L showed significantly higher SRS scores than TD. These findings suggest that variances of verbal development could be associated with face memory and ASD characteristics in WS.
