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Williams Syndrome and Musicality
Individuals with Williams Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder, are noted to have an increased level of emotional responsiveness to music. Research indicates that the increased musical interest of people with Williams syndrome is due to specific brain structures in people with Williams syndrome that are different than those structures in typically developing individuals. It is also known that individuals with Williams Syndrome experience higher levels of mental illness (specifically anxiety) than typically developing individuals, both of which may be treated through music therapy.

Neurological Basis
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) research has indicated that individuals with Williams syndrome process sounds differently than typically developing individuals.

fMRI research has shown that music and noise (such as running water) are processed differently in individuals with Williams syndrome than they are in typically developing individuals. When listening to music was compared with their listening to noise, typically developing individuals showed bilateral activation (engagement of brain structures in both cerebral hemispheres) in the following brain areas: superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus. Individuals with Williams syndrome showed decreased activation in these areas, and increased activation in the amygdala as well as activation in the cerebellum, pons, and brainstem which was not present in typically developing individuals. Individuals with Williams syndrome also show more activation in response to music in the right amygdala when compared with the control group

Research into amusia in individuals with Williams Syndrome found that amusia was positively correlated to decreased fractional anisotropy in the right Superior Longitudinal Fasiculus, which is also shown in typically developing adults.

Musical Ability
Musical ability in individuals with Williams Syndrome varies, as it would within a typically developing population. Research has indicated that individuals with Williams Syndrome show higher musical accomplishment than comparison groups (individuals with Autism and individuals with Down Syndrome). However, it has been suggested that while individuals with Williams Syndrome do show a higher interest and responsiveness to music than typically developing individuals, they perform equally on standardised tests of musical ability to mental age-matched typically developing individuals, and score lower on these tests than age-matched typically developing individuals. It has also been found that in a large study of individuals with Williams Syndrome, 11% met the criteria for amusia, which is greater than the 4% found in the typically developing population.

Responsiveness to Music
Individuals with Williams Syndrome show a greater emotional responsiveness to music than typically developing individuals. It was found that individuals with Williams Syndrome who scored poorly on a measure of musical ability showed high interest and emotional responsiveness to music, whereas typically developing individuals who scored poorly on the same test of musical ability tended to be less interested and responsive to music than individuals with Williams Syndrome. Research has shown that increased emotional responsiveness to music in individuals with Williams Syndrome relates to their sensitivity to sound characteristics (e.g. the volume, articulation, timbre of the music or sound). fMRI research has shown that when listening to emotional music, individuals with Williams Syndrome show a greater activation bilaterally in the superior temporal gyrus than typical developing individuals.

Mental Health and Music
A characteristic of Williams Syndrome is an increased likelihood of living with a mental illness. Most commonly, individuals with Williams Syndrome are likely to suffer from anxiety or phobias. Other research has indicated that individuals with Williams Syndrome are also likely to suffer from depression, however it has been proposed that anxiety, rather than depression, is part of the behavioural phenotype of Williams Syndrome.

Research into the effects of music therapy on mental illness has indicated positive outcomes for disorders such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. Music therapy has also been shown to be beneficial in treating mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression. Given the heightened interest and responsiveness to music evident in individuals with Williams Syndrome, and that increased frequency and duration in producing music has been associated with reduced anxiety in individuals with Williams Syndrome, it has been recommended that further research should be carried out to determine whether music therapy is beneficial to individuals with Williams Syndrome.