Department of Zoology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Apr 21;230(1):274-80. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.02.019. Epub 2012 Feb 17.
The most prevalent sub-group of abnormal repetitive behaviors among captive animals is that of stereotypies. Previous studies have demonstrated some resemblance between stereotypy in captive animals and in humans, including the involvement of neurological malfunctions that lead to the expression of stereotypies. This malfunction can be evaluated through the use of neuropsychological tasks that assess perseveration as implying a failure of the basal ganglia (BG) to operate properly. Other studies, in contrast, have suggested that stereotypies are the product of neurologically intact individuals reacting to the abnormal nature of their surroundings, and are possibly characterized by an adaptive feature that enables the subject to cope with such adversity. Employing neuropsychological tests and also measuring the levels of fecal corticoids in captive rhesus macaques, we tested the hypothesis that stereotypies are related both to brain pathology and to a coping mechanism with stress, resembling accounts by autistic individuals exhibiting basal ganglia malfunction, and who report a sense of relief when performing stereotypies. Self-directed and fine-motor stereotypies exhibited by the monkeys were positively correlated with perseveration, suggesting BG malfunction; while self-directed stereotypies were also negatively correlated with an increase in fecal corticoids following a stress challenge, suggesting a related coping mechanism. We therefore suggest that not all repetitive, unvarying, and apparently functionless behaviors should be regarded as one homogeneous group of stereotypic behaviors; and that, reflecting reports from autistic individuals, self-directed stereotypies in captive rhesus monkeys are related both to brain pathology, and to an adaptive mechanism that allows those that express them to better cope with acute stressors.
在圈养动物中，最常见的异常重复行为亚组是刻板行为。先前的研究表明，圈养动物和人类的刻板行为之间存在一些相似之处，包括涉及导致刻板行为表达的神经功能障碍。这种功能障碍可以通过评估持续性的神经心理任务来评估，持续性暗示基底神经节（BG）不能正常运作。相比之下，其他研究表明，刻板行为是神经系统健全的个体对周围环境异常的反应产物，并且可能具有适应特征，使主体能够应对这种逆境。通过使用神经心理测试并测量圈养恒河猴的粪便皮质醇水平，我们测试了刻板行为既与大脑病理学有关，又与应对压力的机制有关的假设，这类似于表现出基底神经节功能障碍的自闭症个体的描述，他们在表现出刻板行为时会感到解脱。猴子表现出自发的和精细运动的刻板行为与持续性呈正相关，表明 BG 功能障碍；而自导向的刻板行为也与应激挑战后粪便皮质醇的增加呈负相关，表明存在相关的应对机制。因此，我们认为，并非所有重复、不变和明显无功能的行为都应被视为刻板行为的单一同质组；并且，反映了自闭症个体的报告，圈养恒河猴的自导向刻板行为既与大脑病理学有关，又与一种适应机制有关，使那些表现出刻板行为的动物能够更好地应对急性应激源。
