Neural processing of race by individuals with Williams syndrome: Do they show the other-race effect? (And why it matters)

Abstract

Williams syndrome (WS)is a genetic condition with a distinctive social phenotype characterized by excessive sociability accompanied by a relative proficiency in face recognition, despite severe deficits in the visuospatial domain of cognition. This consistent phenotypic characteristic and the relative homogeneity of the WS genotype make WS a compelling human model for examining genotype–phenotype relations, especially with respect to social behavior. Following up on a recent report suggesting that individuals with WS do not show race bias and racial stereotyping, this study was designed to investigate the neural correlates of the perception of faces from different races, in individuals with WS as compared to typically developing (TD) controls. Caucasian WS and TD participants performed a gender identification task with own-race (White) and other-race (Black) faces while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. In line with previous studies with TD participants, other-race faces elicited larger amplitude ERPs within the first 200 ms following the face onset, in WS and TD participants alike. These results suggest that, just like their TD counterparts, individuals with WS differentially processed faces of own-race versus other-race, at relatively early stages of processing, starting as early as 115 ms after the face onset. Overall, these results indicate that neural processing of faces in individuals with WS is moderated by race at early perceptual stages, calling for a reconsideration of the previous claim that they are uniquely insensitive to race.

Keywords:

• Williams syndrome
• Other-race effect
• Event-related potentials
• Race bias

Acknowledgments

This report is based on work supported in part by a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) grant (P01 HD 33113) awarded to U.B. and a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) fellowship (5 T32 MH20002) awarded to I.F.

Notes

¹These authors, using both parent- and self-report, demonstrated that the overall level of social anxiety symptoms in WS is not unusually low.

²In addition to the main effect of race, a main effect of group was found, indicating overall slower responses in WS than in TD participants. Of interest, this latter finding of discrepant behavioral performance in TD and WS groups despite an absence of ERP group effects is reminiscent of other studies in WS that found a discrepancy between behavioral performance on tasks involving processing of socially relevant information, such as faces, and neural (ERP and/or fMRI) outcomes (Haas et al., 2009; Mills et al., 2000).

³Arguably, processes measured by ERPs qualify as an instance of implicit processing by almost any definition available:They operate outside awareness, are non-effortful, and are influenced by prior learning without the individual's deliberate recollection of this learning,.

⁴There is some evidence, from research with TD individuals, suggesting a link between electrocortical sensitivity to race and application of activated racial stereotypes, such that participants who exhibit greater P200 and N200 differentiation between own- and other-race target faces show more pronounced behavioral racial bias when forced to respond to the other-race armed targets (Correll, Urland, & Ito, 2006).