EVENT: "Attention to faces in Williams syndrome and Autism"

Individuals with the neuro-developmental disorders Williams syndrome (WS) and autism show divergent social profiles. In particular these two groups show very different social interaction styles, with WS characterised by hyper-sociability and autism characterised by social withdrawal. Looking at faces is critical to the interpretation of subtle social cues that play an important role in social communication. Here we use eye tracking alongside behavioural tasks to explore attention to faces in these two neuro-developmental disorders. I will provide evidence of increased attention to faces in WS that supports observational evidence and anecdotal reports. With the evidence presented here, I propose that faces are not particularly capturing of attention in WS, but once faces have grabbed attention individuals with WS fail to disengage from them. In contrast, individuals with autism attend to faces less than is typical, supporting previous eye tracking research. I present evidence to suggest that faces do not capture attention in a typical manner in autism. The way that individuals with WS and autism spontaneously attend to social stimuli that contain faces provides insight into the differences these groups show in their social interaction styles.