Treichel, Noemie Dukes, Daniel Barishnikov, Koviljka Samson, Andrea 2023 Objectives Previous studies on the comprehension and appreciation of humour in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have only included complex types of humour that required complex cognitive abilities. Additionally, although individuals with WS have been described as having a bias towards positive emotions, no study has investigated their expressive responses to humour. Methods The present study examined basic humour processing skills, as well as expressive responses to simple humorous and non-humorous stimuli in individuals with WS (N = 8) compared to mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children (N = 9). Participants were shown short funny and non-funny excerpts of the movies “Ice Age” and “Madagascar” and were asked to rate their level of amusement. Their expressive responses, namely smiles and laughs, were coded and analysed. Results Individuals with WS seem to be able to discriminate between humorous and non-humorous conditions and appreciate simple humorous content as much as TD individuals. As such, they are equally able to process simple types of humour as their mental-age matched counterparts. Additionally, and in line with their positivity bias, individuals with WS expressed more frequent and more intense laughter than the control group. Conclusion Individuals with WS appreciate simple humour as much as TD individuals, and they seem to display a particularly high expressivity in response to humorous stimuli. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/327810 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/327810/files/treicheletal2023slapstick.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s41252-023-00356-z info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2366-7532 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC BY Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. - Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2023 Williams syndrome Humour Laughter Expressivity Appreciation of Slapstick Humour and Expressivity in Response to Amusing Stimuli in Individuals with Williams Syndrome http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501