Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, European University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 22006, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus.
University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2021 Nov;30(11):1709-1722. doi: 10.1007/s00787-020-01643-z. Epub 2020 Sep 17.
Empathy deficits are a hallmark sign of both callous-unemotional (CU) and autistic traits. Despite these similarities, prior work did not investigate how these traits relate to physiological reactivity (heart rate and skin conductance) in response to emotional or empathy-eliciting stimuli. Understanding the physiological mechanisms associated with emotional processing deficits among individuals with autistic or CU traits is a critical step for improving both assessment and interventions. The current study was designed to investigate the unique and interactive contributions of CU and autistic traits in predicting physiological reactivity. Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) activity in response to sad, fearful and happy emotional videos were collected form young children. Participants for the current study (n = 163; M = 7.30, SD= 1.42; 44.2% girls) were recruited from a larger community sample of 1652 children and were selected based on their levels of empathy. Regression analysis revealed that boys, but not girls, with high levels of CU traits exhibited low SC reactivity during sad and fearful stimuli. No significant associations were revealed for autistic traits. Finally, an interesting interaction effect suggested that CU traits were associated with stronger HR reactivity to fear stimuli only when autistic traits were low. The identified differences in physiological reactivity can inform etiological hypothesis by providing evidence for the underlying physiological mechanisms related to emotional processing among children high in CU traits but not in autistic traits.
同理心缺陷是冷酷无情（CU）和自闭症特征的标志。尽管存在这些相似之处，但之前的研究并未调查这些特征如何与对情感或引发同理心的刺激的生理反应（心率和皮肤电导）相关。了解具有自闭症或 CU 特征的个体中与情绪处理缺陷相关的生理机制对于改善评估和干预措施至关重要。本研究旨在调查 CU 和自闭症特征在预测生理反应方面的独特和交互作用。从幼儿中收集了对悲伤、恐惧和快乐情绪视频的心率（HR）和皮肤电导（SC）反应。本研究的参与者（n=163；M=7.30，SD=1.42；44.2%的女孩）是从 1652 名儿童的更大社区样本中招募的，他们是根据同理心水平选择的。回归分析表明，具有高水平 CU 特征的男孩（而不是女孩）在悲伤和恐惧刺激时表现出 SC 反应性低。自闭症特征没有显示出显著的相关性。最后，有趣的交互作用表明，只有当自闭症特征较低时，CU 特征才与对恐惧刺激的更强 HR 反应相关。所确定的生理反应差异可以通过提供与具有 CU 特征但不具有自闭症特征的儿童的情绪处理相关的潜在生理机制的证据，为病因假设提供信息。
