Down Syndrome, Beyond the Intellectual Disability : Persons with their Own Emotional World

Emotion is among the most relevant factors of human life, and it exerts a deep influence on all aspects of our lives and behaviour. However, little is known about emotional processing or regulation and experience of emotions under an atypical human condition like Down syndrome (DS). This book represents an initial effort to integrate the most important findings regarding the study of emotion on DS from a cognitive point of view. The first part of this book is focused on general aspects of DS. Mainly, the human nature of persons with Down syndrome is highlighted beyond the intellectual disability that is associated to this genetic condition. Furthermore, the second part of the book, thoroughly describes specific details of cognitive-emotional mechanisms underlying the affective life of DS. Moreover, it is emphasised how neuro-architecture aspects related to DS condition typify the emotional human nature of this population. The third part of the book is concerned with cognitive research advances in the study of emotion and DS. Specifically, findings related to emotion face recognition as well as appraisal processes underlying love judgements on DS are discussed from an experimental approach. Finally, future implications and directions on emotion research on Down syndrome are presented.