| Little is known about visuospatial functions in normal school-aged children and in individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder that causes an uneven cognitive profile of strong language and weak visuospatial abilities. Since WS typically occurs from a genetic deletion of about 20 genes on chromosome 7, it is an important human model for abnormal visuospatial development. In particular, the genes associated with WS may be linked to some aspects of visuospatial cognition. The studies in this thesis explored how normal children (3-9 years old), and WS individuals (10-41 years old) integrate visual information over space. Evidence across these studies is consistent with the idea that WS individuals have implicit grouping processes that are functionally normal (i.e. functionally equivalent to the abilities of normal adults), even though they are impaired in explicit representation of spatial relationships (i.e. functionally equivalent to the abilities of normal 3-4 year olds). |
