Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany.
Autism Research Group, Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, UK.
Autism Res. 2022 Sep;15(9):1609-1620. doi: 10.1002/aur.2784. Epub 2022 Jul 30.
Recently, we have shown that pupil dilation during a recognition memory task can serve as an index of memory retrieval difficulties in autism. At the time of publication, we were unaware of specific data-analysis methods that can be used to shed further light on the origins of such memory related pupil dilation. Specifically, by distinguishing "tonic" from "phasic" changes in pupil dilation and considering their temporal progression, it is possible to draw inferences about the functional integrity of a locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system (LC-NE) that is known to play a key role in regulating memory encoding and retrieval processes. We therefore apply these analyses to our previously published eye-tracking data of adults with ASD (N = 24) and neurotypical development (TD, N = 30) during the recognition memory task. In this re-analysis, we related pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval to recognition accuracy in a per-trial analysis of linear mixed models. In ASD, we replicated attenuated recognition accuracy, which was accompanied by attenuated pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval. Group differences in pupil dilation during retrieval occurred late during the trial (after 1.75 s) and indicated an altered top-down processing like attenuated attribution of semantic salience in response to previously encoded stimuli. In addition, only in the ASD group were higher pupil dilation during encoding and lower pupil dilation during retrieval associated with decreased recognition accuracy. This supports altered modulation of memory encoding and retrieval in ASD, with LC-NE phasic activity as promising underlying mechanism. LAY SUMMARY: We investigated the changes of pupil size during memory testing in autism spectrum disorder. Adults with ASD remembered fewer items correctly than neurotypical individuals (TD). This reduced memory was related to increased pupillary responses at study and decreased pupil dilation at test only for adults with ASD indicating a different modulation of memory by the locus coeruleus.
最近，我们已经表明，在识别记忆任务期间的瞳孔扩张可以作为自闭症中记忆检索困难的指标。在发表时，我们不知道可以进一步阐明这种与记忆相关的瞳孔扩张起源的具体数据分析方法。具体来说，通过区分瞳孔扩张的“紧张”和“相位”变化，并考虑它们的时间进展，可以推断出蓝斑-去甲肾上腺素系统（LC-NE）的功能完整性，该系统已知在调节记忆编码和检索过程中起着关键作用。因此，我们将这些分析应用于我们之前发表的 ASD（N=24）和神经典型发育（TD，N=30）成年人在识别记忆任务期间的眼动追踪数据中。在这项重新分析中，我们将编码和检索期间的瞳孔扩张与线性混合模型的逐试识别准确性相关联。在 ASD 中，我们复制了减弱的识别准确性，这伴随着编码和检索期间的瞳孔扩张减弱。检索期间瞳孔扩张的组间差异出现在试验后期（1.75 秒后），表明存在自上而下的处理改变，就像对先前编码的刺激的语义显着性归因减弱一样。此外，只有在 ASD 组中，编码期间的瞳孔扩张较高和检索期间的瞳孔扩张较低与识别准确性降低有关。这支持了 ASD 中记忆编码和检索的改变，LC-NE 相位活动是有前途的潜在机制。
