Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.
Psychol Med. 2023 Mar;53(4):1592-1602. doi: 10.1017/S0033291721003172. Epub 2021 Sep 17.
To understand the emergence of symptoms in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we need to identify the mechanisms that underpin the development of core social skills. Mounting evidence indicates that young children with later ASD attend less to other people, which could compromise learning opportunities with cascading effects. Passive looking behaviour does not tell us about engagement with visual information, but measures of physiological arousal can provide information on the depth of engagement. In the current study, we use heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) to measure engagement with social dynamic stimuli in ASD.
Sixty-seven preschoolers with ASD and 65 typical developing preschoolers between 2 and 4 years of age participated in a study where HR was measured during viewing of social and non-social videos. Using latent profile analyses, more homogeneous subgroups of children were created based on phenotype and physiology.
Preschool-aged children with ASD, regardless of their non-verbal, verbal and social competencies, do not differ in overall HR or HRV compared to TD children. However, the ASD group showed a larger increase in HR (more disengagement) than the TD group to later-presented social stimuli. Phenotypic and physiological profiles showed this was primarily the case for children with below average verbal and non-verbal skills, but not necessarily those with more ASD symptoms.
Children with ASD, especially a subgroup showing moderate cognitive delays, show an increase in HR to social stimuli over time; this may reflect difficulties re-engaging with social information when attention is waning.
为了了解自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）症状的出现，我们需要确定构成核心社交技能发展的机制。越来越多的证据表明，患有后期 ASD 的幼儿对他人的关注度较低，这可能会影响他们与他人的互动机会，从而产生级联效应。被动观察行为并不能说明他们对视觉信息的参与程度，但生理唤醒的测量可以提供有关参与深度的信息。在当前的研究中，我们使用心率（HR）和心率变异性（HRV）来测量 ASD 儿童对社会动态刺激的参与度。
67 名 2 至 4 岁的 ASD 学龄前儿童和 65 名典型发育的学龄前儿童参与了一项研究，在观看社会和非社会视频时测量 HR。使用潜在剖面分析，根据表型和生理学创建更同质的儿童亚组。
无论其非言语、言语和社交能力如何，ASD 儿童的总体 HR 或 HRV 与 TD 儿童没有差异。然而，与 TD 组相比，ASD 组对后期呈现的社会刺激表现出更大的 HR 增加（更多的不参与）。表型和生理特征表明，这种情况主要发生在言语和非言语技能低于平均水平的儿童中，但不一定是那些具有更多 ASD 症状的儿童。
患有 ASD 的儿童，尤其是表现出中度认知延迟的亚组，随着时间的推移，对社会刺激的 HR 会增加；这可能反映了当注意力下降时，重新参与社交信息的困难。
