Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China.
School of Education, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China.
Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 14;10(1):15019. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72217-x.
This study tested the hypothesis that autistic traits influence the neuronal habituation that underlies the processing of others' pain. Based on their autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), two groups of participants were classified according to their autistic traits: High-AQ and Low-AQ groups. Their event-related potentials in response to trains of three identical audio recordings, exhibiting either painful or neutral feelings of others, were compared during three experimental tasks. (1) In a Pain Judgment Task, participants were instructed to focus on pain-related cues in the presented audio recordings. (2) In a Gender Judgment Task, participants were instructed to focus on non-pain-related cues in the presented audio recordings. (3) In a Passive Listening Task, participants were instructed to passively listen. In the High-AQ group, an altered empathic pattern of habituation, indexed by frontal-central P2 responses of the second repeated painful audio recordings, was found during the Passive Listening Task. Nevertheless, both High-AQ and Low-AQ groups exhibited similar patterns of habituation to hearing others' voices, both neutral and painful, in the Pain Judgment and Gender Judgment Tasks. These results suggest altered empathic neuronal habituation in the passive processing of others' vocal pain by individuals with autistic traits.
自闭症特质会影响他人疼痛处理所基于的神经元习惯化。基于他们的自闭症谱系商数(AQ),将两组参与者根据其自闭症特质分为高 AQ 组和低 AQ 组。在三个实验任务中,比较了他们对三串相同音频记录(表现出他人痛苦或中性感受)的事件相关电位反应。(1)在疼痛判断任务中,要求参与者关注呈现的音频记录中的疼痛相关线索。(2)在性别判断任务中,要求参与者关注呈现的音频记录中的非疼痛相关线索。(3)在被动聆听任务中,要求参与者被动聆听。在高 AQ 组中,在被动聆听任务中,第二个重复的痛苦音频记录的额中央 P2 反应显示出同理心习惯化的改变模式。然而,高 AQ 和低 AQ 组在疼痛判断和性别判断任务中,对他人声音(包括中性和痛苦的声音)的习惯化模式相似。这些结果表明,具有自闭症特质的个体在被动处理他人声音疼痛时,同理心神经元习惯化发生改变。