Jessica L Burris1, Ryan A Barry-Anwar2, Riley N Sims3, Randi J Hagerman4, Flora Tassone5, Susan M Rivera6. 1. Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California. 2. Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 3. Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California. 4. Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, University of California, Davis, California; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Davis, California. 5. Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, University of California, Davis, California; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of California, Davis, California. 6. Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California; Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, University of California, Davis, California. Electronic address: srivera@ucdavis.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability. FXS is caused by a silencing of the FMR1 gene that results in a loss or absence of the gene's protein product, fragile X mental retardation protein. The phenotype of FXS is consistently associated with heightened anxiety, although no previous study has investigated attentional bias toward threat, a hallmark of anxiety disorders, in individuals with FXS. METHODS: The current study employed a passive-viewing eye-tracking version of the dot probe task to investigate attentional biases toward emotional faces in young children with FXS (n = 47) and without FXS (n = 94). RESULTS: We found that the FXS group showed a significantly greater bias toward threatening emotions than toward positive emotions. This threat specificity was not seen in either a mental age-matched group or a chronological age-matched group of typically developing children. Unlike the typically developing groups, the FXS group showed no bias toward positive emotion. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that children with FXS have a significant bias toward threatening information, an attentional profile that has been linked with anxiety. It also supports the use of eye-tracking methodology to index neural and attentional responses in young children with FXS.
BACKGROUND:Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability. FXS is caused by a silencing of the FMR1 gene that results in a loss or absence of the gene's protein product, fragile X mental retardation protein. The phenotype of FXS is consistently associated with heightened anxiety, although no previous study has investigated attentional bias toward threat, a hallmark of anxiety disorders, in individuals with FXS. METHODS: The current study employed a passive-viewing eye-tracking version of the dot probe task to investigate attentional biases toward emotional faces in young children with FXS (n = 47) and without FXS (n = 94). RESULTS: We found that the FXS group showed a significantly greater bias toward threatening emotions than toward positive emotions. This threat specificity was not seen in either a mental age-matched group or a chronological age-matched group of typically developing children. Unlike the typically developing groups, the FXS group showed no bias toward positive emotion. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that children with FXS have a significant bias toward threatening information, an attentional profile that has been linked with anxiety. It also supports the use of eye-tracking methodology to index neural and attentional responses in young children with FXS.
Authors: Reymundo Lozano; Talia Thompson; Jayne Dixon-Weber; Craig A Erickson; Elizabeth Berry-Kravis; Sara Williams; Elizabeth Smith; Jean A Frazier; Hilary Rosselot; Cristan Farmer; David Hessl Journal: Genes (Basel) Date: 2022-09-16 Impact factor: 4.141