Bernier Raphael, Dawson Geraldine, Panagiotides Heracles, Webb Sara
Center on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2005 Oct;35(5):575-83. doi: 10.1007/s10803-005-0002-0.
The present study utilized a fear potentiated startle paradigm to examine amygdala function in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Two competing hypotheses regarding amygdala dysfunction in autism have been proposed: (1) The amygdala is under-responsive, in which case it would be predicted that, in a fear potentiated startle experiment, individuals with autism would exhibit decreased fear conditioning and/or potentiation, and (2) The amygdala is over responsive, in which case an exaggerated potentiation of the startle response would be predicted. Fourteen adolescents and adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and 14 age, gender, IQ, and anxiety level-matched typical adolescents and adults participated. Both participants with autism and typical participants potentiated the startle response following fear conditioning and no group differences in the latency or amplitude of the potentiated startle response were found. These results suggest that this aspect of amygdala function, namely fear conditioning and potentiation of the startle response, is intact in individuals with autism.
本研究采用恐惧增强惊吓范式来检验自闭症谱系障碍个体的杏仁核功能。关于自闭症中杏仁核功能障碍，已提出两种相互竞争的假说：（1）杏仁核反应不足，在这种情况下，可以预测，在恐惧增强惊吓实验中，自闭症个体的恐惧条件反射和/或增强会减弱；（2）杏仁核反应过度，在这种情况下，可以预测惊吓反应会有过度增强。14名被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍的青少年和成年人以及14名年龄、性别、智商和焦虑水平相匹配的典型青少年和成年人参与了研究。自闭症参与者和典型参与者在恐惧条件反射后均增强了惊吓反应，且在增强的惊吓反应的潜伏期或幅度上未发现组间差异。这些结果表明，杏仁核功能的这一方面，即恐惧条件反射和惊吓反应的增强，在自闭症个体中是完整的。
