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Research Article: Multisensory Texture Perception in Individuals with Williams Syndrome

Date Published: 2023-08-31

Abstract:
The sensory profile of people with Williams syndrome (WS) is characterised by atypical visual and auditory perceptions that affect their daily lives and learning. However, no research has been carried out on the haptic perception, in particular in multisensory (visual and haptic) situations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the communication of texture information from one modality to the other in people with WS. Children and adults with WS were included, as well as typically developing (TD) participants matched on chronological age (TD-CA), and TD children matched on mental age (TD-MA). All participants (N = 69) completed three matching tasks in which they had to compare two fabrics (same or different): visual, haptic and visuo-haptic. When the textures were different, the haptic and visual performances of people with WS were similar to those of TD-MA participants. Moreover, their visuo-haptic performances were lower than those of the two TD groups. These results suggest a delay in the acquisition of multisensory transfer abilities in individuals with WS. A positive link between MA and visual and visuo-haptic abilities only in people with WS suggests that they could benefit from an early intervention to develop their abilities to process and transfer multisensory information.

Introduction:
Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a homozygous deletion of chromosome 7q11.23 [1,2] with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 7500 live births [3]. People with WS have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities [4]. Their cognitive profile is marked by a dissociation between relatively well-developed general language abilities and good performance in visual–perceptual tasks (e.g., object and face recognition) while performance in visual–constructive tasks (e.g., drawing or pattern…

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