1 Leiden University, The Netherlands.
2 Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, The Netherlands.
Autism. 2019 Apr;23(3):629-638. doi: 10.1177/1362361318766439. Epub 2018 Mar 29.
This study aimed to measure emotional expression and physiological arousal in response to fear in 21 children with autism spectrum disorders (43-75 months) and 45 typically developing children (41-81 months). Expressions of facial and bodily fear and heart rate arousal were simultaneously measured in response to a remote controlled robot (Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery). Heart rate analyses revealed a main effect of task from baseline to fear ( p < 0.001, ), no interaction effect and no effect for group. In addition, children with autism spectrum disorder showed intact facial and bodily expressions of fearful affect compared to typically developing children. With regard to the relationship between expression and arousal, the results provided evidence for concordance between expression and arousal in typically developing children ( r = 0.45, n = 45, p < 0.01). For children with autism spectrum disorder, no significant correlation was found ( r = 0.20, n = 21, p = 0.38). A moderation analysis revealed no significant interaction between expression and arousal for children with and without autism spectrum disorder ( F(1, 62) = 1.23, p = 0.27, ), which might be the result of limited power. The current results give reason to further study concordance between expression and arousal in early autism spectrum disorder. Discordance might significantly impact social functioning and is an important topic in light of both early identification and treatment.
本研究旨在测量 21 名自闭症谱系障碍儿童（43-75 个月）和 45 名正常发育儿童（41-81 个月）对恐惧的情绪表达和生理唤醒。通过远程控制机器人（实验室气质评估电池）同时测量面部和身体的恐惧表情和心率唤醒。心率分析显示，从基线到恐惧的任务有一个主要影响（p<0.001， ），没有交互效应，也没有组效应。此外，与正常发育的儿童相比，自闭症谱系障碍儿童表现出完整的面部和身体恐惧表情。关于表达和唤醒之间的关系，结果提供了正常发育儿童中表达和唤醒之间一致性的证据（r=0.45，n=45，p<0.01）。对于自闭症谱系障碍儿童，未发现显著相关性（r=0.20，n=21，p=0.38）。调节分析显示，自闭症谱系障碍儿童和无自闭症谱系障碍儿童的表达和唤醒之间没有显著的相互作用（F（1,62）=1.23，p=0.27， ），这可能是由于功率有限。目前的结果为进一步研究早期自闭症谱系障碍中表达和唤醒的一致性提供了理由。不和谐可能会对社交功能产生重大影响，这是早期识别和治疗的一个重要课题。
