Deborah M. Riby

TL;DR: Eye-tracking techniques are used to investigate how individuals with these two neuro-developmental disorders associated with distinct social characteristics view scenes containing people and suggest more attention should be drawn towards understanding the implications of atypical social preferences in WS.

TL;DR: The neuro-developmental disorders of Williams syndrome and autism can reveal key components of social cognition and attention mechanisms, and individuals with WS showed prolonged face gaze across tasks, relating to the typical WS social phenotype.

TL;DR: The reported gaze behaviours provide experimental evidence of the divergent social interests associated with autism and WS.

TL;DR: Compared anxiety in autism spectrum disorder and Williams Syndrome and examined the relationship between repetitive behaviours and anxiety, indicating a differential role for restricted and repetitive behaviours in relation to anxiety.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used Williams syndrome and autism spectrum disorders as exemplars to demonstrate how atypicalities of social cognition may contribute to social vulnerability in these populations, and discussed different issues regarding social independence of these individuals, including employment, safety and decision making.