孤独症患者面部情绪认知研究进展

孤独症患者面部情绪识别困难不仅有一般性特点,还存在特异性表现,如注视局部细节等。孤独症患者情绪面部识别障碍可能与情绪识别特定的脑区有着密切的关系,如梭状回、杏仁核以及镜像神经元等。     

学龄前孤独症谱系儿童对人物面部表情的识别特征

目的:测试学龄前孤独症儿童对人物静态面部表情的识别能力和特点。方法:使用自制人物面部开心、吃惊、害怕、生气、讨厌、伤心、中性七种表情图,对13例4～8岁孤独症男童和23例3～5岁正常对照组男童进行了测试分析,两组儿童在发展年龄上作了匹配(3.66±0.44岁)。结果:两组儿童在识别七种表情照片的正确率上无显著性差异(P>0.05);各表情类别识认比较,孤独症组识别伤心、害怕、讨厌及吃惊表情正确率高于对照儿童(P<0.05);孤独症组识别表情的正确率依次是:开心>伤心>生气>害怕>讨厌>吃惊>中性;而对照组则为:开心>生气>伤心>害怕>中性>讨厌>吃惊。结论:孤独症儿童对七种面部表情的命名性识别与正常儿童无明显差异,但识别基本面部表情的模式与正常儿童有所不同。     

孤独症谱系障碍的面部表情认知特征研究进展

孤独症（autism）、阿斯伯格综合征（Asperger syndrome,AS）和未分类的广泛性发育障碍（PDD—not otherwise specified,PDD—NOS）是一组以社交困难、语言障碍和行为异常为特征的发育障碍性疾病,因共同位于一个连续的疾病谱上,被统称为孤独症谱系障碍（autism spectrum disorders,ASD）。     

孤独症儿童对静态与动态面部表情识别的比较

目的比较孤独症儿童对静态和动态面部表情识别的差异。方法采用45名被试进行3(被试类型:ASD、ID、TD)×2(呈现方式:静态、动态)×3(面部表情:高兴、中性、愤怒)三因素重复测量实验,考察孤独症儿童、智力障碍儿童、正常儿童在呈现静态与动态表情时,对高兴、中性和生气表情的识别能力。结果在正确率层面,被试类型、呈现方式和表情类型的交互效应显著(F==2.02,P0.01),孤独症儿童在两种呈现方式下的表情识别率显著低于对照组被试。在反应时层面,被试类型、呈现方式和表情类型的交互效应显著(F==5.96,P0.01),孤独症儿童在两种呈现方式的表情反应时显著慢于对照组被试。结论孤独症儿童对积极表情的识别能力优于消极表情;孤独症儿童对静态表情的识别能力优于动态表情。     

幼儿面孔表情认知反应的相关因素

目的:探讨影响幼儿表情认知反应的个体和家庭相关因素。方法:采用方便取样,选取90名1.5~3岁幼儿(男55例,女35例),记录其对面孔表情图的认知反应,同时用1~3岁幼儿气质量表、家庭因素和亲子关系情况调查表、婴幼儿社会认知发展筛查量表进行调查。将表情认知反应各原始变量进行因子分析提取公因子,再用偏相关分析和多重回归分析,探讨幼儿表情认知反应各公因子与气质特征、家庭因素及社会认知能力各因素的关系。结果:多重回归分析显示,多个自变量与表情认知反应各公因子有明显相关,包括心境(Beta=-0.214)、节律性(Beta=0.217)、言语发育水平(Beta=0.289),及家庭环境中多个因素包括父母亲性格(父亲内/外向Beta=0.278、母亲内/外向Beta=-0.263,母亲敏感/不敏感Beta=0.260)、父亲和带养人文化(Beta=0.259,0.244)、母亲产后情绪(Beta=0.347)、母亲行为(Beta=0.231)、家庭经济(Beta=-0.217,0.257)以及家庭氛围(Beta=-0.281)(P<0.05)。结论:正常幼儿表情认知反应不仅与其气质特征和语言能力有关,也与多个家庭环境因素有关。     

孤独症谱系障碍和精神分裂症青少年的面部表情识别能力

目的:探讨孤独症谱系障碍、精神分裂症青少年的面部表情识别能力特点。方法:入组12～18岁孤独症谱系障碍患者77例、精神分裂症患者67例及年龄相匹配的正常发育青少年68例,完成面部表情识别任务测查。结果:孤独症谱系障碍组基础面部表情识别任务总分低于精神分裂症组及正常发育组(Ps<0.05),精神分裂症组和正常发育组间无统计学差异(P>0.05);孤独症谱系障碍组和精神分裂症组间复杂表情识别任务总分差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),但两组均低于正常对照组(均P<0.001)。结论:孤独症谱系障碍和精神分裂症青少年均存在面部表情识别缺陷,孤独症谱系障碍表现为基础和复杂面部表情识别缺陷,而精神分裂症表现为复杂面部表情识别缺陷。     

中国面部表情视频系统的初步建立

目的：建立本土化的中国面部表情视频系统（ehinese facial expression video system，CFEVS）以增加情绪研究的取材范围。方法：录制强度分为三等级的喜悦、悲伤、惊奇、恐惧、愤怒、厌恶及中性（无表情及咀嚼动作两种）等面部表情视频片段，经两轮粗选后，请50名中国大学生对剩余视频片段的表情类型、愉悦度、唤醒度及表演者的长相进行自我报告式评定。将表情类型、愉悦度、唤醒度一致性高且表情类型与愉悦度相一致的片段纳入CFEVS，做分布分析，同时分析评测者性别、表演者长相对愉悦度、唤醒度分值的影响。结果：纳入CFEVS的喜悦表情男18女43共61个，悲伤表情男23女28共51个，无表情中性男13女17共31个，咀嚼中性男7女17共24个。散点图显示CFEVS在愉悦度及唤醒度上分布较为广泛。方差分析表明评测者性别及表演者长相对视频片段的愉悦度、唤醒度的影响与其表情类型有关。结论：本研究初步建立了一个拥有喜悦、悲伤及中性表情的CFEVS，并发现评测者的性别及表演者的长相可影响实验结果。     

阿斯伯格综合征儿童对人物基本面部表情的识别特点

目的:了解阿斯伯格综合征(Asperger syndrome,AS)儿童对人物基本面部表情的识别能力和特征。方法:使用本研究研发的面部表情识别测试软件系统对22例符合美国精神障碍诊断和统计手册第四版(the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,4th edition,DSM-Ⅳ)AS诊断标准的门诊AS儿童和20例性别、年龄等一般情况相匹配的正常对照儿童进行测试。以不同呈现方式下的面部表情识别的正确率与反应时为分析指标。结果:AS儿童对正立面部表情、上半部面孔表情的识别正确率均低于正常对照儿童,且反应时间延迟。AS儿童对整体面部表情的识别仅优于下半面孔,而正常儿童对整体面部表情的识别率优于上半和下半面孔。AS儿童与正常儿童对正立(整体)面孔的识别均优于倒立面孔。结论:阿斯伯格综合征儿童对人物面部表情的识别能力较正常儿童差,但尚具有一定的面孔整体加工能力,与正常儿童同样具有倒置面孔效应。     

多维情绪能力干预对学前自闭症男孩面部表情产出的影响

目的：揭示多维情绪能力干预对低龄自闭症男孩面部表情表达和模仿的影响。方法：在尊重家长意愿的前提下,将26名年龄在39～79个月的自闭症男孩分为干预组（n=15）和对照组（n=11）,干预组接受为期约3个月的多维情绪能力综合干预,干预内容包括情绪的识别、理解、体验、调节、模仿和表达。干预方案共36课时,每课时约15～25分钟。所有幼儿在干预前后分别完成六种基本情绪（开心、生气、伤心、惊讶、讨厌、害怕）的表达和模仿任务,并用摄像机记录其面部肌肉运动。通过面部表情编码系统标定幼儿面部表情产出的正确率。结果：（1）多维情绪能力干预后,自闭症男孩模仿六种基本情绪面部表情的质量以及表达开心、生气、伤心、害怕情绪面部表情的质量均有显著提升。（2）面部表情模仿任务中,口唇区和眼眶区AU的产出在干预后显著提升;面部表情表达任务中,仅有眼眶区AU的产出在干预后得到显著提升。结论：多维情绪能力干预方案可改善学前自闭症男孩的面部表情产出,研究为自闭症儿童情绪能力的干预提供了可参考的内容和框架。     

青少年情绪调节认知策略的特征研究

目的:探讨青少年的情绪调节认知策略的特征。方法:以认知情绪调节问卷(CERQ-C)测查1910名青少年在遭遇负性生活事件时使用的情绪调节认知策略。结果:中学生比大学生在适应性认知策略上的得分要高。女性更多使用适应性认知策略。青少年在适应性认知策略上的得分显著高于非适应性认知策略。结论:青少年在应对应激性生活事件时使用的认知策略存在年龄、性别差异。青少年在应对应激性生活事件时更多的使用适应性认知策略。青少年情绪调节认知策略的发展具有阶段性特征。     

Sensory gating in young children with autism: relation to age, IQ, and EEG gamma oscillations

Unusual reactions to auditory stimuli are often observed in autism and may relate to ineffective inhibitory modulation of sensory input (sensory gating). A previous study of P50 sensory gating did not reveal abnormalities in high-functioning school age children [C. Kemner, B. Oranje, M.N. Verbaten, H. van Engeland, Normal P50 gating in children with autism, J. Clin. Psychiatry 63 (2002) 214-217]. Sensory gating deficit may, however, characterize younger children with autism or be a feature of retarded children with autism, reflecting imbalance of neuronal excitation/inhibition in these cohorts. We applied a paired clicks paradigm to study P50 sensory gating, and its relation to IQ and EEG gamma spectral power (as a putative marker of cortical excitability), in young (3-8 years) children with autism (N=21) and age-matched typically developing children (N=21). P50 suppression in response to the second click was normal in high-functioning children with autism, but significantly (p<0.03) reduced in those with mental retardation. P50 gating improved with age in both typically developing children and those with autism. Higher ongoing EEG gamma power corresponded to lower P50 suppression in autism (p<0.02), but not in control group. The data suggest that ineffective inhibitory control of sensory processing is characteristic for retarded children with autism and may reflect excitation/inhibition imbalance in this clinical group.     

Effects of COVID-19 on children with autism

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affects all countries and populations worldwide, significantly impacting people with autism with a high risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. Approximately 25% of children with autism have an asymptomatic or symptomatic immune deficiency or dysfunction. In addition, they frequently have various comorbid conditions that increase the severity of COVID-19. In addition, severe COVID-19 during pregnancy may increase the risk of autism in the offspring. Furthermore, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 could target human nervous system tissues due to its neurotrophic effects. The COVID-19 pandemic intensely impacts many patients and families in the autism community, especially the complex management of autism-associated disorders during the complete lockdown. During the complete lockdown, children with autism had difficulties coping with the change in their routine, lack of access to special education services, limited physical space available, and problems related to food and sleep. Additionally, children with autism or intellectual disabilities are more liable to be abused by others during the pandemic when the standard community supports are no longer functioning to protect them. Early detection and vaccination of children with autism against COVID-19 are highly indicated. They should be prioritized for testing, vaccination, and proper management of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. In this review, we discuss the various effects of COVID-19 on children with autism, the difficulties they face, the increased risk of infection during pregnancy, how to alleviate the impact of COVID-19, and how to correct the inequalities in children with autism.     

Attention modulates emotional expression processing

To investigate the time course of emotional expression processing, we recorded ERPs to facial stimuli. The first task was to discriminate emotional expressions. Enhanced negativity of the face-specific N170 was elicited by emotional as opposed to neutral faces, followed by the occipital negativity (240-340 ms poststimulus). The second task was to classify face gender. Here, N170 was unaffected by the emotional expression. However, emotional expression effect was expressed in the anterior positivity (160-250 ms poststimulus) and subsequent occipital negativity (240-340 ms poststimulus). Results support the thesis that structural encoding relevant to gender recognition and simultaneous expression analysis are independent processes. Attention modulates facial emotion processing 140-185 ms poststimulus. Involuntary differentiation of facial expression was observed later (160-340 ms poststimulus), suggesting unintentional attention capture.     

Understanding metaphor to facilitate emotional expression during a chronic disease self-management course

Objective

This study was designed to understand emotional expression as an element of the chronic disease self-management course (CDSMC).

Methods

Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse a qualitative interview data set in which 10 lay-tutors described their perceptions of emotional expression during a CDSMC. The accounts were used to develop an interpretive phenomenological account.

Results

Tutors suggest that people on a CDSMC are often unaware of their own emotional state and lack the vocabulary for expression. Tutors use metaphorical language to help Course participants to identify their own feelings and construct meaning of their illness experiences. ‘Off-loading’ and ‘feeling blue’ are used to help them find the expressions to talk about their emotions and release their feelings.

Conclusion

Tutors use metaphoric terms as a framework for the understanding of emotional states that Course participants often find ‘difficult to label’. The analogous structure of metaphor helps with the understanding of inner feelings and provides expressive phrases for dialogue that can lead to emotional relief.

Practice implications

This study provides important considerations that could be applied when training CDSMC tutors to help facilitate emotional understanding and expression.     

Anxiety in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Anxiety and poor stress management are common concerns in clinical samples of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Anxiety may worsen during adolescence, as young people face an increasingly complex social milieu and often become more aware of their differences and interpersonal difficulties. This review summarizes the state of research on the prevalence, phenomenology, and treatment of anxiety in youth with autism and related conditions such as Asperger's Disorder. Using search words autism, asperger(s), or pervasive developmental disorder and anxiety or anxious to find reports published between 1990 and 2008, this review identified 40 papers. The results of the review suggest that anxiety, whether measured categorically or dimensionally, is indeed common in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and may be a source of additional morbidity. The assessment of anxiety disorders in ASD should be conducted using multiple informants and modalities, as children with ASD often do not display age-typical symptoms of anxiety. To date, relatively few controlled intervention studies using well-characterized samples have been conducted despite preliminary evidence for efficacy of select pharmacological and psychosocial approaches. Recommendations for future applied research are presented and clinical implications are explored.     

Modification of N170 by different emotional expression of schematic faces

The N170 is widely regarded as a face sensitive potential, having its maximum at occipito-temporal sites, with right-hemisphere dominance. However, it is debatable whether the N170 is modulated by different emotional expressions of a face. The aim of this study was to analyze the N170 elicited by schematic happy and angry faces when the emotional expression is semantically processed. To investigate the influence of different emotional expressions of schematic faces, we used a Prime-Probe procedure with the N400 effect as an indicator for a semantic processing. Eighteen subjects were presented the German word "happiness" or "anger" followed by happy and angry faces. The word-face pair could be congruent or incongruent in emotional meaning. Subjects were instructed to compare the emotional meaning of the words and faces and to count the congruent trials. Event-related potentials were recorded from 124 sites. Congruent faces elicited a smaller negativity in the N400 time range than incongruent faces, indicating that the facial emotional expression was cognitively processed. The face sensitive N170 was most pronounced at posterior and occipital sites, and N170 amplitudes were larger following the angry as compared to the happy faces. It is concluded that different emotional expressions of schematic faces can modulate the N170.     

Cardiac sensitivity in children: Sex differences and its relationship to parameters of emotional processing

In adults, the level of ability to perceive one's own body signals plays an important role for many concepts of emotional experience as demonstrated for emotion processing or emotion regulation. Representative data on perception of body signals and its emotional correlates in children is lacking. Therefore, the present study investigated the cardiac sensitivity of 1,350 children between 6 and 11 years of age in a heartbeat perception task. Our main findings demonstrated the distribution of cardiac sensitivity in children as well as associations with interpersonal emotional intelligence and adaptability. Furthermore, independent of body mass index, boys showed a significantly higher cardiac sensitivity than girls. We conclude that cardiac sensitivity in children appears to show weaker but similar characteristics and relations to emotional parameters as found in adults, so that a dynamic developmental process can be assumed.     

Attention modulates the processing of emotional expression triggered by foveal faces

To investigate whether the processing of emotional expression for faces presented within foveal vision is modulated by spatial attention, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to stimulus arrays containing one fearful or neutral face at fixation, which was flanked by a pair of peripheral bilateral lines. When attention was focused on the central face, an enhanced positivity was elicited by fearful as compared to neutral faces. This effect started at 160 ms post-stimulus, and remained present for the remainder of the 700 ms analysis interval. When attention was directed away from the face towards the line pair, the initial phase of this emotional positivity remained present, but emotional expression effects beyond 220 ms post-stimulus were completely eliminated. These results demonstrate that when faces are presented foveally, the initial rapid stage of emotional expression processing is unaffected by attention. In contrast, attentional task instructions are effective in inhibiting later, more controlled stages of expression analysis.     

Aberrant amino acid transport in fibroblasts from children with autism

Autism is a developmental, cognitive disorder clinically characterized by impaired social interaction, communication and restricted behaviours. The present study was designed to explore whether an abnormality in transport of tyrosine and/or alanine is present in children with autism. Skin biopsies were obtained from 11 children with autism (9 boys and 2 girls) fulfilling the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder and 11 healthy male control children. Transport of amino acids tyrosine and alanine across the cell membrane of cultured fibroblasts was studied by the cluster tray method. The maximal transport capacity, V_max and the affinity constant of the amino acid binding sites, K_m, were determined. Significantly increased V_max for alanine (p = 0.014) and increased K_m for tyrosine (p = 0.007) were found in children with autism. The increased transport capacity of alanine across the cell membrane and decreased affinity for transport sites of tyrosine indicates the involvement of two major amino acid transport systems (L- and A-system) in children with autism. This may influence the transport of several other amino acids across the blood–brain-barrier. The significance of the findings has to be further explored.