Blood oxytocin concentration positively predicts contagious yawning behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder
Blood oxytocin concentration positively predicts contagious yawning behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder
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DOI：
10.1002/aur.2135
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发表时间：
2019-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Parker, Karen J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mariscal, Michael G.;Oztan, Ozge;Parker, Karen J.
研究表明，与正常发育的儿童相比，患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童可能缺乏同理心，这是通过传染性哈欠反应受损来衡量的。其他研究未能重复这一发现，而是将这一现象归因于各组对打哈欠刺激的注意力差异。第三种可能性是，只有一小部分自闭症儿童表现出传染性哈欠反应受损，并且可以从生物学上进行识别。在这里，我们量化了“社交”神经肽催产素（OXT）的血液浓度，并评估了6-12岁的ASD儿童（N = 34）和TD儿童（N = 30）在实验室任务中的打哈欠行为和注意力率。传染哈欠行为没有发现组间差异。然而，血氧合酶浓度x组（ASD vs. TD）相互作用正预测传染性哈欠行为（F-1,F-50 = 7.4987; P = 0.0085）。具体而言，血OXT浓度与ASD儿童的传染性打哈欠行为呈正相关，而与TD儿童无关。这一发现不是由于打哈欠刺激的延迟感知，并且观察了对测试刺激的注意和临床症状严重程度是否包括在分析中。这些发现表明，只有一个生物学定义的自闭症儿童子集表现出减少的同理心，通过受损的传染性哈欠反应来衡量，并且之前关于这种行为现象的相互矛盾的报告可能归因于，至少部分归因于不同自闭症研究队列中不同的平均OXT浓度。孤独症杂志，2019,12:1156-1161。(c) 2019年国际自闭症研究学会，Wiley期刊公司自闭症患者可能会传染性地打哈欠（即，对他人的打哈欠作出反应），比没有自闭症的人更少。我们发现，患有自闭症的人血液中催产素（一种与社会行为和同理心有关的激素）水平较低，传染性哈欠会减少，但血液中催产素水平较高的人在传染性哈欠方面与对照组没有什么不同。这表明传染性哈欠的减少可能只发生在自闭症患者的一个生物学定义的子集中。
Research suggests that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have reduced empathy, as measured by an impaired contagious yawn response, compared to typically developing (TD) children. Other research has failed to replicate this finding, instead attributing this phenomenon to group differences in attention paid to yawn stimuli. A third possibility is that only a subgroup of children with ASD exhibits the impaired contagious yawn response, and that it can be identified biologically. Here we quantified blood concentrations of the "social" neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) and evaluated yawning behavior and attention rates during a laboratory task in children with ASD (N = 34) and TD children (N = 30) aged 6-12 years. No group difference in contagious yawning behavior was found. However, a blood OXT concentration x group (ASD vs. TD) interaction positively predicted contagious yawning behavior (F-1,F-50 = 7.4987; P = 0.0085). Specifically, blood OXT concentration was positively related to contagious yawning behavior in children with ASD, but not in TD children. This finding was not due to delayed perception of yawn stimuli and was observed whether attention paid to test stimuli and clinical symptom severity were included in the analysis or not. These findings suggest that only a biologically defined subset of children with ASD exhibits reduced empathy, as measured by the impaired contagious yawn response, and that prior conflicting reports of this behavioral phenomenon may be attributable, at least in part, to variable mean OXT concentrations across different ASD study cohorts. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1156-1161. (c) 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary People with autism may contagiously yawn (i.e., yawn in response to another's yawn) less often than people without autism. We find that people with autism who have lower levels of blood oxytocin (OXT), a hormone involved in social behavior and empathy, show decreased contagious yawning, but those who have higher blood OXT levels do not differ in contagious yawning from controls. This suggests that decreased contagious yawning may only occur in a biologically defined subset of people with autism.