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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2005;294:893.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A rare genetic disorder called Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is providing new insights into regions of the brain involved in human social behavior, according to research by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health. The study was published online on July 10 in Nature Neuroscience (Meyer-Lindenberg et al. http://www.nature.com/neuro/).

Using functional neuroimaging, the investigators were able to detect changes in specific brain networks that help explain why individuals with WBS are highly social and empathetic even with strangers yet have phobias and excessive worrying in nonsocial settings. When 13 participants with WBS were shown pictures of angry or fearful faces, the amygdala showed considerably reduced brain activation compared with the amygdala of matched controls; viewing pictures of threatening scenes without people caused the amygdala response to be abnormally increased in those with WBS.

Because it appeared that the amygdala did still function in WBS, the investigators . . . [Full Text of this Article]