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Abstract:
Williams Syndrome (WMS) is a rare genetic disorder,
characterized by relative strengths in language and face processing
and profound, specific impairments in spatial processing. These
deficits include attention to detail at the expense of the whole in
spatial construction, suggestive of dorsal stream dysfunction.
Little is known, however, about visuospatial attentional
capabilities of individuals with WMS. We compared the performance
of ten WMS adults (aged: 20-47 years) on visuospatial attentional
orienting tasks with that of a large sample of 7-38 year old
normally developing individuals. We examined performance on two
tasks of visual discrimination, one in which the discrimination was
performed at a single spatial location, and the other that required
the moving of attention to a new location for accurate
discrimination performance. Our results revealed that half of the
WMS adults performed more poorly than normally developing 7 year
olds on both tasks. The remaining half of the WMS adults
demonstrated normal adult-like performance on the discrimination
task at a single location, but nevertheless performed at or below
the level of normally developing 11-year-olds when the task
required attentional shift. These results point to a deficit in
visuospatial attention processes in WMS even in the face of
preserved visual discrimination capabilities, and are consonant
with an underlying dorsal stream dysfunction.
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