Overuse of familiar phrases by individuals with Williams syndrome masks differences in language processing.
This work has been fun on so many levels. First, it connects my current research with my very early experiences with language sciences. Williams syndrome was often used as an example to illustrate how language functions as an independent cognitive “module” - or, even better, an “organ” - which doesn’t always behave like other functions of the brain/mind. I was academically raised with that belief, and now it was time to scrutinize it.
Second, the people with whom I worked were fantastic. This paper is based on a secondary data analysis conducted by two then-final-year undergraduate students, Ioana Sederias and Ariane Krakovitch, who I supervised. These were the years of the Covid lockdowns - dark and stressful at least for me - and working with these two smart and fun students was one of the few bright spots during that time.
Finally, the project itself went remarkably smoothly. Our predictions came naturally from previous observations and the data supported them strongly. Some confused head-scratching is fairly typical when one first looks at results, but not here. The data tell a very clear story. And this is the story:
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