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Kleberg JL, Hallman AEZ, Galazka MA, Riby DM, Bölte S, Willfors C, Fawcett C, Nordgren A. No transfer of arousal from other's eyes in Williams syndrome. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18397. [PMID: 37884631 PMCID: PMC10603144 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45521-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Typically developing humans automatically synchronize their arousal levels, resulting in pupillary contagion, or spontaneous adaptation of pupil size to that of others. This phenomenon emerges in infancy and is believed to facilitate social interaction. Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic condition characterized by a hyper-social personality and social interaction challenges. Pupillary contagion was examined in individuals with WS (n = 44), age-parallel-matched typically developing children and adults (n = 65), and infants (n = 79). Bayesian statistics were used. As a group, people with WS did not show pupillary contagion (Bayes factors supporting the null: 25-50) whereas control groups did. This suggests a very early emerging atypical developmental trajectory. In WS, higher pupillary contagion was associated with lower autistic symptoms of social communication. Diminished synchronization of arousal may explain why individuals with WS have social challenges, whereas synchronization of arousal is not a necessary correlate of high social motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Lundin Kleberg
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Astrid E Z Hallman
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Martyna A Galazka
- Department of Applied Information Technology, Division of Cognition and Communication, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | | | - Sven Bölte
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
- Curtin Autism Research Group, Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Charlotte Willfors
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Christine Fawcett
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ann Nordgren
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
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