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Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research

Face processing in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: atypical development and visual scanning alterations

Authors: Alexandra Zaharia, Maude Schneider, Bronwyn Glaser, Martina Franchini, Sarah Menghetti, Marie Schaer, Martin Debbané, Stephan Eliez

Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Background

Previous research links social difficulties to atypical face exploration in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). Two types of face processing are distinguished: configural (CFP) and featural (FFP). CFP develops later in life and plays an important role in face and emotion recognition abilities. Recent studies reported atypical development of CFP in several neurodevelopmental disorders. Taking previous reports of atypical face exploration one step further, our study aims at characterizing face processing in children and adolescents with 22q11.2DS. First, we sought to identify biases in the first two fixation positions on faces and to detect differences between CFP and FFP in 22q11.2DS using eye-tracking technology. Second, we investigated the developmental trajectories of CFP and FFP using accuracy data from follow-up evaluation.

Methods

Seventy-five individuals with 22q11.2DS and 84 typically developed (TD) individuals (aged 6–21 years) completed a discrimination task (“Jane task”) inducing CFP and FFP in an eye-tracking setting. Thirty-six individuals with 22q11DS and 30 TD from our sample completed a longitudinal follow-up evaluation.

Results

Findings revealed that individuals with 22q11.2DS demonstrate an early bias toward the mouth region during the initial fixations on the faces and reduced flexibility exploration of the faces, with a reduced number of transitions between faces and longer fixations compared to the TD group. Further, scanpaths did not differ between CFP and FFP in the 22q11.2DS group. Longitudinal analysis of accuracy data provided evidence for atypical development of CFP in 22q11.2DS.

Conclusions

The current study brings new evidence of altered face exploration in 22q11.2DS and identifies developmental mechanisms that may contribute to difficulties impacting social interactions in the syndrome.
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Metadata
Title
Face processing in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: atypical development and visual scanning alterations
Authors
Alexandra Zaharia
Maude Schneider
Bronwyn Glaser
Martina Franchini
Sarah Menghetti
Marie Schaer
Martin Debbané
Stephan Eliez
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 1866-1947
Electronic ISSN: 1866-1955
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-018-9245-x

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