Emotion understanding, sustained attention and inhibitory control in Down Syndrom

Emotion understanding (EU) is the ability to identify, predict and explain our emotions and others'. Its development is influenced by verbal and reasoning abilities, that are often lacking in Down Syndrome (DS). It could also be influenced by sustained attention and inhibitory control. Thus, the current study was aimed at: 1) compare the level of EU of DS participants and children with typical development (TD) of the same developmental age; 2) to investigate to what extent attentional processes predict the development of EU. Participants with DS and TD participants achieved different tests assessing EU, non-verbal reasoning, receptive vocabulary, sustained attention and inhibitory control. The results showed that DS participants have a lower EU and that the impact of sustained attention and inhibitory control depended on the group. These results suggest that people with DS have an atypical development of EU. Therefore, it seems necessary to adapt support by taking these difficulties into account.