Williams syndrome: The opposite of autism

Oliver Sacks wrote a chapter in Musicophilia about Williams Syndrome, which is where I learned of it. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I recommend reading his books. Reading about rare (and not so rare) neurological syndromes can be disturbing but it also sheds a lot of light on how people think and feel.

This is really interesting, I've heard this vaguely in passing, but never knew much more about it other than that it existed. As someone actually with ASD, it's pretty interesting to hear about someone with the other end of the affliction. I feel like it would be really interesting to be able to meet such a person - while on one hand, I worry that our personalities would massively conflict, many of my best friends in life have typically been quite sociable and outgoing, we were kind of foils for each other.

I also find it rather interesting that a lot of children's literature describes characters somewhat akin to the people in this story - generally very trusting, sociable, and with few or no limits on socialization. I wonder if deep down, we all want to be William's Syndrome people, but the realities of the world and our innate nature require that we aren't.

And another thing I find very interesting is the connection between William's Syndrome and the health / moderate intellectual disability of the afflicted. While ASD (or more specifically Asperger's Syndrome, which is what I was diagnosed with as a kid) doesn't directly cause any health problems, it's often associated with an increase in certain kinds of intelligence, particularly analytic and logical skills, which is precisely what William's Syndrome sufferers seem to lack the most in. However, they also are increasingly likely to suffer from anxiety, just like ASD afflicted people are, and they apparently tend to have excellent memory as well.

This is really interesting, I think I'm going to do some more research on this myself.

Sort of neat tidbit: it seems like Williams syndrome might be connected to the changes in domesticated dogs' behavior.

"But delving into the DNA of our closest companions can deliver some tantalizing insights. In 2009 UCLA biologist Robert Wayne led a study comparing the wolf and dog genomes. The finding that made headlines was that dogs originated from gray wolves not in East Asia, as other researchers had argued, but in the Middle East. Less noticed by the press was a brief aside in which Wayne and his colleagues identified a particular short DNA sequence, located near a gene called WBSCR17, that was very different in the two species. That region of the genome, they suggested, could be a potential target for "genes that are important in the early domestication of dogs." In humans, the researchers went on to note, WBSCR17 is at least partly responsible for a rare genetic disorder called Williams-Beuren syndrome. Williams-Beuren is characterized by elfin features, a shortened nose bridge, and "exceptional gregariousness"—its sufferers are often overly friendly and trusting of strangers.

After the paper was published, Wayne says, "the number one email we got was from parents of children suffering from Williams-Beuren. They said, Actually our children remind us of dogs in terms of their ability to read behavior and their lack of social barriers in their behavior." The elfin traits also seemed to correspond to aspects of the domestication phenotype. Wayne cautions against making one-to-one parallels between domestication genes and something as genetically complex as Williams-Beuren. The researchers are "intrigued," he says, and hoping to explore the connection further."

(from National Geographic)