Corbett Blythe A, Muscatello Rachael A, Baldinger Charles
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
Biol Psychol. 2019 Jan;140:119-130. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.12.010. Epub 2018 Dec 14.
Response to psychological stress can vary based on the extent to which the context is perceived as stressful, especially under different social conditions. The purpose of this preliminary study was to compare physiological stress (cortisol) and regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA) of 10-12 year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 31) or typical development (TD, n = 25) when exposed to two social stress protocols. The extent to which perceived emotion (affect recognition) and anxiety (state and trait) mediate the stress response was also explored. Results revealed different patterns of stress responses dependent on the type of stressor. During a friendly social interaction, both groups generally showed an adaptive, synergistic response between cortisol and RSA. In response to social evaluation, however, the ASD group did not show correlating responses between physiological systems, which was likely due to a blunted stress response to the social evaluative stressor. The ability to recognize neutral faces mediated the relationship between diagnostic group and physiological response to social evaluation, indicating that perception of threat is essential to triggering a stress response. The current study emphasizes the need to consider the important role of social context, social perception, and perceived anxiety when examining social interaction and stress.
对心理压力的反应可能因情境被感知为压力的程度而有所不同，尤其是在不同的社会条件下。这项初步研究的目的是比较10至12岁自闭症谱系障碍（ASD，n = 31）或发育正常（TD，n = 25）的儿童在接受两种社会压力方案时的生理压力（皮质醇）和调节（呼吸性窦性心律失常，RSA）。同时还探讨了感知情绪（情感识别）和焦虑（状态和特质）对压力反应的介导程度。结果显示，根据压力源的类型，压力反应模式不同。在友好的社交互动中，两组通常在皮质醇和RSA之间表现出适应性的协同反应。然而，在面对社会评价时，ASD组的生理系统之间没有显示出相关反应，这可能是由于对社会评价压力源的应激反应迟钝所致。识别中性面孔的能力介导了诊断组与对社会评价的生理反应之间的关系，表明对威胁的感知对于触发应激反应至关重要。当前的研究强调，在研究社会互动和压力时，需要考虑社会背景、社会认知和感知焦虑的重要作用。
