Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0109, USA.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2013 Jun;54(6):603-18. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12061. Epub 2013 Mar 2.
The social motivation hypothesis (SMH) suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are less intrinsically rewarded by social stimuli than their neurotypical peers. This difference in social motivation has been posited as a factor contributing to social deficits in ASD. Social motivation is thought to involve the neuropeptide oxytocin. Here, we review the evidence for oxytocin effects in ASD, and discuss its potential role in one important social cognitive behavior.
Systematic searches were conducted using the PsychINFO and MEDLINE databases and the search terms 'oxytocin' and 'autism'; the same databases were used for separate searches for 'joint attention', 'intervention', and 'autism', using the same inclusion criteria as an earlier 2011 review but updating it for the period 2010 to October 2012.
Several studies suggest that giving oxytocin to both individuals with ASD and neurotypical individuals can enhance performance on social cognitive tasks. Studies that have attempted to intervene in joint attention in ASD suggest that social motivation may be a particular obstacle to lasting effects.
The review of the evidence for the SMH suggests a potential role for oxytocin in social motivation deficits in ASD. Because of its importance for later communicative and social development, the focus here is on implications of oxytocin and social motivation in the development of and interventions in joint attention. Joint attention is a central impairment in ASD, and as a result is the focus of several behavioral interventions. In describing this previous research on joint attention interventions in ASD, we pay particular attention to problems encountered in such studies, and propose ways that oxytocin may facilitate behavioral intervention in this area. For future research, integrating behavioral and pharmacological interventions (oxytocin administration) would be a worthwhile experimental direction to improve understanding of the role of oxytocin in ASD and help optimize outcomes for children with ASD.
社会动机假说（SMH）表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的社交刺激内在奖励不如其神经典型同龄人。这种社会动机的差异被认为是 ASD 社交缺陷的一个因素。社会动机被认为涉及神经肽催产素。在这里，我们回顾了 ASD 中催产素作用的证据，并讨论了它在一种重要的社会认知行为中的潜在作用。
使用 PsychINFO 和 MEDLINE 数据库进行了系统搜索，并使用了“催产素”和“自闭症”这两个术语；使用相同的数据库分别搜索了“共同注意力”、“干预”和“自闭症”，使用了与 2011 年的早期综述相同的纳入标准，但更新了 2010 年至 2012 年 10 月的内容。
几项研究表明，给 ASD 患者和神经典型个体给予催产素可以提高他们在社会认知任务上的表现。试图干预 ASD 中共同注意力的研究表明，社会动机可能是持久效果的一个特殊障碍。
对 SMH 证据的综述表明，催产素在 ASD 中的社会动机缺陷中可能具有潜在作用。由于它对以后的交流和社会发展很重要，因此这里的重点是催产素和社会动机对共同注意力发展和干预的影响。共同注意力是 ASD 的一个核心障碍，也是几种行为干预的重点。在描述 ASD 中共同注意力干预的先前研究时，我们特别注意到此类研究中遇到的问题，并提出了催产素在该领域促进行为干预的方法。对于未来的研究，将行为和药物干预（催产素给药）结合起来将是一个有价值的实验方向，可以提高对催产素在 ASD 中的作用的理解，并有助于优化 ASD 儿童的结果。
