The regulatory function of social referencing in preschoolers with Down syndrome or Williams syndrome.

Down syndrome;Williams syndrome;Social referencing

Angela E. John

University:University of Louisville

Department:Psychological and Brain Sciences

关键词: Down syndrome;    Williams syndrome;    Social referencing;   

Others  :  https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1693&context=etd

美国|英语

来源: The Universite of Louisville's Institutional Repository

【 摘 要 】

The present project examined the regulatory function of social referencing in two neurodevelopmental disorders that have been well defined genetically and are characterized by differing patterns of socio-cognitive development: Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). In addition, since the social referencing process requires children to coordinate three fundamental abilities (initiation of joint attention, gaze following, emotional responsivity), the present project also included three follow-up studies which examined these abilities separately. Participants were 21 children with DS (M age = 4.97 years; SD = .74) and 21 children with WS (M age = 4.92 years; SD = .76) closely matched on age and gender. The results of the Social Referencing task indicated that the majority of children in both diagnostic groups formed positive opinions about the ambiguous stimulus when the adult communicated a joyful nonverbal message but had difficulty using the adult's expression of fear to regulate their behavior in response to the ambiguous stimulus. Children with DS were more likely than were children with WS to shift gaze between the adult and the ambiguous stimulus. However, the children with DS frequently formed a positive opinion of the fearful stimulus and were more likely than were the children with WS to touch the stimulus. When the adult reacted fearfully to the ambiguous stimulus, the longest look directed to her by children with WS was significantly longer than the longest look directed by children with DS. In addition, children with WS were less likely to form an opinion of the fearful stimulus and more likely than children with DS to resort to superficially imitating the adult's display as opposed to using the adult's opinion of the stimulus to form their own. The results of the follow-up studies demonstrated that children with DS were more likely than were children with WS to initiate joint attention with the adult and to respond to joint attention in triadic situations. In addition, in a situation with a reduced attentional demand on the child than that used in the Social Referencing task, results indicated that the majority of children in both groups formed a positive opinion of the stimulus when the adult communicated a joyful message about it. However, when the adult communicated a fearful message, only one child in each group formed a negative opinion of the stimulus. In summary, the results indicate that there are both similarities and differences in the problems encountered by