CEN Colloquium: Williams syndrome: what a rare genetic condition can teach us about social motivation and perception

Faces and facial expressions have a major influence on attention and learning in typically developing individuals from infancy and throughout life. Many of these effects have been attributed to social motivation. Since nonverbal social communication is one of the most important means of information transmission in humans, alterations in these processes are likely to have developmental consequences. Consequently, it is often assumed that if social motivation can be increased in individuals with social interaction challenges, this will have beneficial effects.

Williams syndrome is a rare genetic condition associated with a striking hyper-social personality. Studies of social attention and learning in this group can help us examine assumptions about the correlates and consequences of social motivation. I will present studies eye tracking and computational modeling studies about Williams syndrome and discuss what this condition can teach us about human sociability.

Bio: Johan Lundin Kleberg is an associate professor and clinical psychologist at Stockholm University where he co-leads the Developmental Clinical Psychology group.

To join remotely: https://mpib-berlin.webex.com/mpib-berlin/j.php?MTID=maff3dee0ad54cb921191ff33d0b92347

Meeting number: 2744 645 6180

Password: ArpQMePJ352