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

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious 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.MethodsSeventy-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.ResultsFindings 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.ConclusionsThe 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.

Social cognition in individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and its link with psychopathology and social outcomes: a review

“…Five papers involved sample sizes with 24 to 35 participants [ 49 , 54 – 57 ]; five articles had more than 40 participants [ 50 , 52 , 53 , 58 , 59 ]. Two articles had longitudinal designs [ 58 , 59 ] and one study was conducted at two sites (UCLA, SUNY) [ 52 ]. A complete overview of included studies, with main characteristics and assessments for each domain is presented in Table 1 .…”

“…In total, five papers reported associations between social-perceptual aspects of social cognition and psychopathology . Four of these studies found significant associations between face and emotion recognition and negative symptoms [ 49 , 56 , 58 ] and paranoid schizotypal symptoms [ 56 ]. No association was found between this aspect of social cognition (specifically, face discrimination) and internalizing, anxious/depressive traits [ 58 ].…”

“…Both aspects of social cognition were mainly associated with age. Zaharia et al pointed that accuracy on configural different (CD) trials (comparing original face photo to the versions of face photos with eyes/mouth being moved up, down, further or closer) significantly increased with age only in typically developing participants compared to the affected individuals [ 58 ]. Most studies found no link to IQ.…”

“…One of the main goals of our study was to review the association between social cognition and psychopathology, and three studies confirmed medium effect size associations between emotion processing and negative symptoms of psychosis [ 49 , 56 , 58 ]. This finding is also supported by the research of Jalbrzikowski et al in which emotion processing was found to be specifically associated with negative symptoms [ 21 ].…”

Affective and psychotic reactivity to daily-life stress in adults with 22q11DS: a study using the experience sampling method

“…Here, we used this methodology for the first time in a sample of adults with 22q11DS to investigate affect, stress, and affective reactivity to various types of daily environmental stressors (related to the social sphere, the activity that the person is doing, or the events that occurred), allowing for a reliable assessment of the interaction between personal vulnerability and environmental stressors in real life. We closely examined reactivity to social stressors, given that 22q11DS is characterized by decreased social skills [ 25 ], high rates of social anxiety [ 3 ], high levels of maladaptive social behaviors [ 25 ], and an atypical processing of social information (e.g., [ 26 ]), which may lead to more negative appraisals of social interactions in daily life.…”