Influence of Attention and Arousal on Sensory Abnormalities in ASD

注意力和唤醒对自闭症谱系障碍感觉异常的影响

• 批准号: 8352042
• 负责人: JEANNE TOWNSEND
• 金额: $ 23.25万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-15 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8352042
• 关键词: Address; Affect; Arousal; Attention; Auditory; Autistic Disorder; Behavior; Behavior Therapy; Behavioral; Child; Clinical; Conflict (Psychology); Consensus; Development; Electroencephalography; Esthesia; Galvanic Skin Response; Hand; Heart Rate; Individual; Literature; Measures; Modality; Modeling; Nature; Perception; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacological Treatment; Physiological; Process; Questionnaires; Recovery; Refractory; Reporting; Secondary to; Sensory; Sensory Process; Symptoms; Testing; Therapeutic Intervention; Treatment Efficacy; Vision; Visual; Work; alertness; autism spectrum disorder; base; impaired driving performance; relating to nervous system; response; sensory stimulus; social communication; sound; young adult

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Abnormal responses to sensory stimulation are a commonly reported clinical feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sensory symptoms are included in the ASD profile on a number of standardized assessments, and studies based on these self- or observational reports find increased rates of sensation seeking or sensation avoidance in all sensory modalities, although the nature and affected sensory modality of these abnormalities varies greatly between individuals. Despite the general consensus that sensory abnormalities are an important clinical symptom in autism, there is little or no understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Further, because the vast majority of evidence regarding these symptoms is based solely on behavioral descriptions, it is not clear if these symptoms are truly sensory in nature or if they reflect abnormalities of general arousal levels, attention or perception. Based upon our own work and existing evidence, we suggest a model in which basic sensory function is intact in ASD and abnormalities in sensory behavior result instead from the influence of poorly modulated arousal and attention on sensory responsiveness. We propose to address this important issue using electroencephalography (EEG) and physiological measures of arousal (skin conductance and heart rate) in young adults and children with ASD. We will assess auditory and visual sensory functions including levels of sensory response, habituation and neural response recovery, and will examine the influence of arousal and attention on sensory responsiveness. A wide variety of therapeutic interventions target sensory function, but there is scant evidence for the efficacy of these treatments. Understanding the nature of sensory abnormalities and the processing level at which sensory behavior is perturbed will guide the development of more effective therapeutic interventions and/or specific pharmacological treatments. Because abnormal sensory behavior is among the most troublesome of ASD symptoms, providing a scientific basis for treatment of these symptoms would have a significant impact on the field. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Over- or under-sensitivity to sights and sounds are among the most common clinical symptoms in ASD, but little is known about whether these problems are sensory in nature or secondary to problems with physiological alertness/arousal or attention. There are a variety of treatments for sensory symptoms, but there is little scientific base for these treatments or evidence that they are effective. This project will examine the nature of sensory abnormality in ASD in order to provide scientific guidance for drug or behavioral treatments of sensory symptoms.

描述（由申请人提供）：对感觉刺激的异常反应是自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的常见临床特征。感觉症状被包括在ASD的一些标准化评估中，基于这些自我或观察报告的研究发现，在所有感觉模态中，感觉寻求或感觉回避的比率增加，尽管这些异常的性质和受影响的感觉模态在个体之间差异很大。尽管人们普遍认为感觉异常是自闭症的一个重要临床症状，但对潜在机制的了解很少或根本没有。此外，由于关于这些症状的绝大多数证据仅基于行为描述，因此尚不清楚这些症状是否真正是感官性质的，或者它们是否反映了一般唤醒水平，注意力或感知的异常。根据我们自己的工作和现有的证据，我们提出了一个模型，其中基本的感觉功能是完整的ASD和异常的感觉行为的结果，而不是从影响调制不良的唤醒和注意的感觉反应。我们建议使用脑电图（EEG）和生理唤醒措施（皮肤电导和心率）来解决这个重要的问题，在年轻人和ASD儿童。我们将评估听觉和视觉感官功能，包括感官反应水平，习惯化和神经反应恢复，并将检查唤醒和注意力对感官反应的影响。各种各样的治疗干预措施针对感觉功能，但这些治疗的疗效缺乏证据。了解感觉异常的性质和感觉行为受到干扰的处理水平将指导更有效的治疗干预和/或特定药物治疗的发展。由于异常的感觉行为是ASD症状中最麻烦的一种，因此为治疗这些症状提供科学依据将对该领域产生重大影响。 公共卫生相关性：对视觉和声音的过度敏感或敏感不足是ASD中最常见的临床症状之一，但很少有人知道这些问题是本质上的感官问题还是继发于生理警觉/唤醒或注意力问题。有多种治疗感觉症状的方法，但这些治疗方法几乎没有科学依据或证据表明它们是有效的。本研究将探讨ASD感觉异常的本质，为感觉症状的药物或行为治疗提供科学指导。