Event Abstract Back to Event Reflexive Orienting to Non- Predictive Gaze and Arrow Cues in Williams Syndrome A. Fine1*, D. P. Skwerer1, L. Ciciolla1, R. Joseph1 and H. T. Flusberg1 1 Boston University, School of Medicine, United States Background: Previous studies have shown reflexive attentional orienting to gaze in typically developing individuals (e.g. Friesen & Kingstone, 1998; Frischen & Tipper, 2004; Hietanen, 1999). Orienting of attention has not been systematically examined in Williams syndrome (WS), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by mild mental retardation, specific impairments in spatial ability, and heightened social interest. Measuring attentional processes engaged in orienting tasks may elucidate low-level mechanisms of face perception and social cognition in this population. Methods: We administered a standard cueing paradigm with non-predictive, centrallypresented schematic faces and arrows at two stimulus onset asynchronies (200, 600 SOA) to 13 individuals with WS and to 10 mental age-matched normal controls (NC). Gaze and arrow cues were presented in separate blocks, with target location (left or right side of the central stimulus), cue validity, and SOA counter-balanced across trials. Each trial consisted of a central fixation point, followed by a centrally-located cue, with a target (asterisk) appearing either 200 or 600 ms after the appearance of the cue. In each block half of the trials were valid (direction of cue toward the subsequent target) and half were invalid (direction of cue away from subsequent target); Valid and invalid trials were randomized. Manual response time (via button-press) to target location was measured to assess effects of cue-direction on attention deployment. Results: Reaction time analyses were conducted on correct trials only. Accuracy was not significantly different between the two groups. In the arrow condition, NC participants were able to locate validly cued targets significantly faster (p<.05) than invalidly cued targets at the 200 ms SOA; however, the RT advantage disappeared at the longer SOA, replicating earlier findings (e.g. Senju et al. 2004). In the arrow condition, participants with WS showed a validity effect at both SOAs (p<.05). The validity effect for arrows at the 600 ms SOA was also of a greater magnitude for individuals with WS overall than for controls (p<.05). For the schematic faces the NC group showed a validity effect at 200ms (p<.05), but again this decayed at 600ms. The opposite was true for the participants with WS, who showed a validity effect for gaze cues at the longer SOA (p<.05) but not the shorter one. Discussion: This is the first study to demonstrate attentional orienting effects in WS using gaze and arrow cues. These results suggest that individuals with WS may have more difficulty using top-down attention control mechanisms to disengage from the “rule-like” directional quality of the arrows. Our findings indicate that orienting to gaze is preserved in individuals with WS, although proceeding on a different time-course, which may be influenced by domain-general processing constraints. Conference: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome, Garden Grove,CA, United States, 13 Jul - 14 Jul, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Multidisciplinary Poster Session Citation: Fine A, Skwerer DP, Ciciolla L, Joseph R and Flusberg HT (2009). Reflexive Orienting to Non- Predictive Gaze and Arrow Cues in Williams Syndrome. Conference Abstract: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.07.036 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 04 May 2009; Published Online: 04 May 2009. * Correspondence: A. Fine, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, United States, abfine@bu.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers A. Fine D. P Skwerer L. Ciciolla R. Joseph H. T Flusberg Google A. Fine D. P Skwerer L. Ciciolla R. Joseph H. T Flusberg Google Scholar A. Fine D. P Skwerer L. Ciciolla R. Joseph H. T Flusberg PubMed A. Fine D. P Skwerer L. Ciciolla R. Joseph H. T Flusberg Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.