Pupillometry reveals hyper-arousal in response to auditory stimuli in autistic children  

作　　者：Ci SONG Runsheng MA Wei NI Xinyue PENG Xue LI Ruoxi SHI Yuanping ZHANG Li YI 

机构地区：[1]School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences,Peking University,Beijing,100871,China [2]Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health,Beijing,100871,China [3]Peking University Institute of Mental Health,Beijing,100191,China [4]NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Peking University,Beijing,100191,China [5]National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders,Peking University Sixth Hospital,Beijing,100191,China [6]Qingdao Autism Research Institute,Qingdao,266107,China [7]Tianjin YiTong Autism Research Service Center,Tianjin,300392,China [8]IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU,Peking University,Beijing,100871,China

出　　处：《Journal of Zhejiang University-Science B(Biomedicine & Biotechnology)》2024年第11期996-1008,共13页浙江大学学报（英文版）B辑（生物医学与生物技术）

基　　金：supported by the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province(No.2019B030335001);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.32271116)。

摘　　要：Atypical sensory responsivity is widely reported in autistic individuals and is related to elevated functional difficulties.Dynamically,altered initial responses and/or habituation rates could underlie their atypical averaged responses to repeated sensory stimuli.In this study we aimed to measure the arousal level in response to different types of auditory stimuli and the dynamic change of atypical arousal level using pupillometry in autistic children.In Experiment 1,43 autistic children and 49 neurotypical(NT)children were asked to passively listen to a mild sound and an aversive sound repeatedly.In Experiment 2,39 autistic children and 44 NT children who went through Experiment 1 listened to a gradually emerging non-startling sound and a suddenly emerging startling sound in a random order.We found that the autistic group showed hyper-arousal in response to the aversive sound and the startling sound as reflected by their larger change in pupil area.In comparison,these autistic children demonstrated normal arousal in response to the mild sound and the non-startling sound.Dynamically,the autistic group had a larger peak pupil area change than the NT group in the first trial and a normal habituation rate to the aversive sound.In summary,our results suggest hyper-arousal to aversive and startling stimuli and the role of larger initial responses in hyper-arousal in autism.Minimizing aversive and startling sensory stimuli or gradually increasing the volume of aversive auditory stimuli to allow autistic children to adapt using the principle of habituation is recommended to reduce the arousal level and problematic behaviors of autistic children.

关 键 词：Autism spectrum disorder AROUSAL HABITUATION AUDITORY PUPILLOMETRY 

分 类 号：R749.94[医药卫生—神经病学与精神病学]