社会动机理论视角下自闭症谱系障碍者的社交缺陷

社交缺陷是自闭症谱系障碍的核心症状。以往研究更多从社会认知的角度指出该症状是心理理论损伤所致, 但自闭症谱系障碍个体在获得心理理论之前已表现出社会动机不足的特质, 且部分能通过心理理论测试的个体依旧表现出社会动机不足的特点。社会动机理论指出社会动机是促进人类进化、激发和维持个体社会性活动的重要内部动力, 自闭症谱系障碍者的社交缺陷是由于社会动机不足所致。该理论从行为表现、神经科学和生物学三个方面对自闭症谱系障碍者的社交缺陷进行解释。未来应进一步完善自闭症谱系障碍个体社会动机的神经机制研究, 明确社会动机理论在自闭症谱系障碍群体中的适用范围, 探究社会动机理论在评估诊断和临床康复中的应用价值。     

自闭症谱系障碍者面孔识别的神经机制

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种心理状况的谱系障碍,其症状是社交及沟通上的广泛性异常、异常局限性的兴趣和高度重复性的刻板行为。包括自闭症、亚斯伯格症候群和待分类的广泛性发展障碍3类。研究主要以事件相关电位和功能性磁共振成像两种技术为线索,通过深入分析ASD患者在面孔识别认知过程中脑的异常变化,探讨其面孔识别障碍的神经机制问题。研究表明,ASD患者面孔识别能力的损伤主要与N170、N300、P400和Nc等ERPs成份异常及梭状回面孔区和杏仁核的低激活有关。研究推论ASD患者面孔识别障碍是多个异常脑区联合作用的结果,且主要受异常脑区的数量和损伤程度的影响。     

自闭症谱系儿童模仿缺陷的脑神经机制

模仿在人类生命进化中具有举足轻莺的意义,自闭症儿童的认知发展的研究表明,模仿缺陷是导致自闭症谱系儿童沟通障碍、社交困难的核心缺陷.而镜像神经系统机能失常假设有力地解释了自闭症谱系儿童模仿缺陷的神经机制.尽管镜像神经系统的信息加工过程还存在着MOSAIC模型和EP-M模型的争论.但这两种模型都支持自闭症儿童脑神经功能连通异常的假说.     

自闭症早期预警:联合注意和共情的发生发展及影响因素

自闭症在3岁前已经发病,目前对于自闭症儿童的诊断却要到3岁后,滞后性的诊断使得自闭症儿童可能错过最佳干预治疗期。证据显示,在婴幼儿早期,联合注意与共情的发生发展可以作为3岁之前自闭症预警的重要内容。早期联合注意能力发展异常是自闭症言语和社交障碍的重要诱因;而早期共情能力发展的偏离则可能导致自闭症儿童表现出社交障碍和沟通障碍。文章初步描绘出早期联合注意和共情的发生发展轨迹,总结归纳了影响二者早期发生发展的三个重要方面:神经生理、遗传和环境机制。未来的研究应考虑结合分子生物学和神经成像技术,设计更加生态化的联合注意及共情任务,探索自闭症个体联合注意和共情损伤在大脑分子细胞层面的表征状态,从而为自闭症的早期预警提供更加客观的指标。     

自闭症谱系障碍个体的焦虑：发生机制、评估与治疗

自闭症谱系障碍是一种神经发育性障碍, 主要表现为社会交往互动障碍和重复刻板性行为。焦虑或焦虑障碍常被认为是自闭症个体最普遍的共病之一。焦虑与自闭症之间的关系尚不明确, 自闭症个体的焦虑与无法忍受不确定性、杏仁核功能和体积、情绪调节策略、消极思维存在一定关联; 目前已经开发出专门用于自闭症个体焦虑的评估工具; 修订版认知行为疗法对自闭症个体焦虑的治疗取得了良好效果。未来的研究应着重探索自闭症个体焦虑的认知与神经机制, 检验专用评估工具的有效性, 继续关注现代技术(如虚拟现实技术)对自闭症个体焦虑的治疗效果。     

自闭症谱系障碍者异常的大脑功能连接

自闭症谱系障碍(Autism spectrum disorders, ASD)是一种常见的神经发育障碍, ASD在社交、语言、行为等方面的障碍与其异常的大脑功能连接存在密切关系。与正常发育者相比, ASD大脑既表现出远距离功能连接不足, 也表现出局部功能连接过度增强。ASD这种异常的脑功能连接受到结构异常、扫描状态、个体发展、分析方法等多种因素的影响。未来的ASD脑机制研究中, 要综合分析脑功能与结构, 关注年龄发展变化, 并将任务状态、被试取样、数据分析标准等因素纳入考察。     

孤独症儿童动作发展障碍的神经机制

动作发展障碍(Developmental motor disorders)是孤独症谱系障碍的常见特征。通过系统回顾孤独症儿童动作发展障碍的神经科学研究, 发现γ-氨基丁酸和5-羟色胺浓度的改变及γ-氨基丁酸相关蛋白和Shank蛋白的表达异常不仅会损害中枢神经系统的发育, 而且还能导致突触兴奋性与抑制性失衡, 进而改变孤独症儿童小脑和大脑皮层运动区的功能连接。孤独症儿童小脑、基底神经节和胼胝体结构的改变对全脑的连通性产生了负面影响。神经生化机制和脑结构的异常共同导致了脑功能的异常, 最终造成孤独症儿童的动作发展障碍。此外, 动作发展障碍与孤独症核心症状共同的神经基础主要包括镜像神经元系统紊乱, 丘脑、基底神经节和小脑异常以及SLC7A5和PTEN 基因突变。未来研究需要关注与运动密切相关的其他神经递质, 如乙酰胆碱和多巴胺; 探索动作发展障碍神经网络的动态机制及其形成; 剖析该障碍的神经机制和自闭症核心症状神经机制的相互作用。     

5～7岁自闭症谱系障碍儿童环境文字阅读的特点

以带有不同类型情境线索(包括颜色、图标和字体)的环境文字为材料,采用命名任务考察5～7岁28名自闭症谱系障碍儿童和30名正常儿童阅读环境文字的特点。结果发现:(1)在去掉环境文字中的图标后,自闭症谱系障碍儿童和正常儿童命名文字的得分都显著降低;(2)在消除环境文字的字体线索后,自闭症谱系障碍儿童命名文字的得分显著降低,但正常儿童却较少受影响;(3)在阅读环境文字时,无论是自闭症谱系障碍儿童还是正常儿童,识字量越多,儿童越少依赖图标线索的提示。这些结果表明,自闭症谱系障碍儿童在阅读环境文字时,受图标线索和字体线索的影响较大,为制定促进其阅读学习的早期识字干预方案提供参考。     

戏剧治疗在自闭症谱系障碍儿童社交能力提升中的应用

社会交往能力的缺乏被认为是自闭症谱系障碍儿童最核心的症状,戏剧治疗被认为能有效提高自闭症谱系障碍儿童的社会交往能力。文章梳理了运用戏剧治疗提升自闭症谱系障碍儿童社会交往能力的理论基础、技术和步骤、实践与疗效,并对该方法的应用进行了简单的总结和展望。技术包括布景、符号表征、视觉形象化和角色法;步骤包括相遇、谐和、习得三个阶段;现有实证研究表明该方法对自闭症谱系障碍儿童的社交能力提升有一定的作用;该方法与其他方法的结合是未来需重视的实践与研究方向。     

虚拟现实技术与自闭症谱系障碍治疗:科技新希望

自闭症谱系障碍(autism spectrum disorders,ASD)治疗是心理治疗的重要研究部分,但传统干预心理疗法有其局限性。随着虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,VR)技术的发展,虚拟现实技术被广泛应用于心理治疗领域并展现出独特的优势。文章探讨了虚拟现实技术在自闭症谱系障碍治疗中的可行性,归纳总结了其在自闭症谱系障碍治疗中的最新应用,分析了虚拟现实技术应用于自闭症谱系障碍治疗过程中技术、实验方法和人的多样化带来的挑战。未来这一方向的研究可以致力于研究更透彻的生理机制、注重虚拟现实技术的提升、采用人工智能等高端科技以及实现系统普适化和定制化的双向发展。     

A systems neuroscience approach to autism: biological,cognitive, and clinical perspectives

Autism is a behaviorally defined disorder characterized by a broad constellation of symptoms. Numerous studies directed to the biological substrate demonstrate clear effects of neurodevelopmental differences that will likely point to the etiology, course, and long-term outcomes of the disorder. Consistently replicated research on the neural underpinnings of autism is reviewed. In general, results suggest several main conclusions: First, autism is a heterogeneous disorder and is likely to have multiple possible etiologies; second, structural brain studies have indicated a variety of diffuse anatomical differences, reflective of an early developmental change in the growth or pruning of neural tissue, rather than localized lesions; similarly, neurochemical studies suggest early, neuromodulatory discrepancies rather than gross or localized abnormalities; and finally, there are a number of limitations on studies of brain activity that to date preclude definitive answers to questions of how the brain functions differently in autism. The large number of active research programs investigating the cognitive neuroscience of autism spectrum disorders, in combination with the exciting development of new methodologies and tools in this area, indicates the drama and excitement of work in this area.     

Serotonin in autism and pediatric epilepsies

Serotonergic abnormalities have been reported in both autism and epilepsy. This association may provide insights into underlying mechanisms of these disorders because serotonin plays an important neurotrophic role during brain development--and there is evidence for abnormal cortical development in both autism and some forms of epilepsy. This review explores the hypothesis that an early disturbance in the serotonin system affects cortical development and the development of thalamocortical innervation, and is a potential mechanism, common to autism and pediatric epilepsies associated with cortical dysplasia. An argument is made that cortical malformation leads to abnormalities of thalamocortical connectivity, and that serotonin plays a critical role in this process. Finally, a role for altered metabolism of the serotonin precursur, tryptophan, in both epilepsy and autism is discussed.     

Self-awareness: behavior analysis and neuroscience

Self-awareness is a specific type of autoclitic discriminative behavior and inferential generalization to similar performances exhibited by other people. Brain imaging findings take on special importance within behavior analysis when they indicate that dysfunctions in these areas are related to differential effects of our interventions, with some acquiring substantially typical self-awareness skills and others failing to do so. It appears that those individuals whose brain dysfunctions are limited to these areas, and are not part of more generalized brain abnormalities, are amenable to substantial acquisition of those most basic of human skills called self-awareness, whereas individuals with more generalized brain dysfunction are not so disposed. Through a combination of less or more effective teaching contingencies during childhood, and degrees of dysfunction of those brain structures, some children grow up lacking self-reflective abilities and self-insight, whereas others are extraordinarily astute at those capacities. Among children with autism spectrum disorders who lack those skills due to abnormal brain development, approximately half of them can acquire those skills, at least to some degree through the use of effective, intensive, early behavior therapy methods.     

Genetics of autism spectrum disorders

Characterized by a combination of abnormalities in language, social cognition and mental flexibility, autism is not a single disorder but a neurodevelopmental syndrome commonly referred to as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several dozen ASD susceptibility genes have been identified in the past decade, collectively accounting for 10-20% of ASD cases. These findings, although demonstrating that ASD is etiologically heterogeneous, provide important clues about its pathophysiology. Diverse genetic and genomic approaches provide evidence converging on disruption of key biological pathways, many of which are also implicated in other allied neurodevelopmental disorders. Knowing the genes involved in ASD provides us with a crucial tool to probe both the specificity of ASD and the shared neurobiological and cognitive features across what are considered clinically distinct disorders, with the goal of linking gene to brain circuits to cognitive function.     

PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY AND AUTISM

There has been no significant writing within personal construct psychology about autistic spectrum disorders, despite the fact that this approach provides promising models in a number of other specific areas of human difficulty. This article outlines a PCP model of autism, based on a wide variety of recent research findings and writings, including those of autism sufferers themselves. Autism is considered in the light of Kelly's fundamental postulate and 11 corollaries as well as Procter's (1978) group and family corollaries. It is argued that Kelly's theory provides an integrative framework for considering this complex set of disorders with implications for further research in autism and the early development of social cognition as well as for therapeutic and educational intervention in helping people struggling with autistic spectrum disorders.     

孤独症生命早期脑过度生长现象及启示

孤独症神经结构研究中近来一个重要的发现是,孤独症生命早期存在脑过度生长的现象。进一步的探查表明,孤独症个体脑的过度生长主要由脑白质的过度生长造成,并且脑的过度生长又主要体现于那些较晚成熟的高级脑区。这一研究成果有助于孤独症儿童的早期发现和诊断,也提示孤独症并不是由单一的局部神经缺陷造成,其存在着广泛分布式的神经发展障碍     

孤独症儿童共同注意的神经基础及早期干预

共同注意是指两个人共同对某一事物加以注意, 分享对该事物的兴趣, 它是儿童社会认知发展的奠基性能力。首先, 孤独症儿童共同注意发展主要体现在注视转换、主动展示、分享等能力发展滞后及缺陷; 孤独症儿童共同注意的神经基础：应答性共同注意主要涉及后部皮层注意网络(如颞上沟后部、顶内沟等), 自发性共同注意涉及前部皮层注意网络(如前扣带皮层、背内侧额叶等); 最后, 以回合式教法和关键反应训练为基本方法, 论述了共同注意干预的新近模式和效果评估。未来研究应在孤独症儿童的共同注意发展的年龄特征及机制、共同注意的脑区可塑性及脑网络的发展以及开发更有效的干预方法等方面展开大量研究。     

Brain development in autism: early overgrowth followed by premature arrest of growth

Due to the relatively late age of clinical diagnosis of autism, the early brain pathology of children with autism has remained largely unstudied. The increased use of retrospective measures such as head circumference, along with a surge of MRI studies of toddlers with autism, have opened a whole new area of research and discovery. Recent studies have now shown that abnormal brain overgrowth occurs during the first 2 years of life in children with autism. By 2-4 years of age, the most deviant overgrowth is in cerebral, cerebellar, and limbic structures that underlie higher-order cognitive, social, emotional, and language functions. Excessive growth is followed by abnormally slow or arrested growth. Deviant brain growth in autism occurs at the very time when the formation of cerebral circuitry is at its most exuberant and vulnerable stage, and it may signal disruption of this process of circuit formation. The resulting aberrant connectivity and dysfunction may lead to the development of autistic behaviors. To discover the causes, neural substrates, early-warning signs and effective treatments of autism, future research should focus on elucidating the neurobiological defects that underlie brain growth abnormalities in autism that appear during these critical first years of life.     

Development and Content Validity of the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire

Qualitative methodology was used to develop items for a questionnaire designed to examine the perspectives of parents regarding the impact of the sensory environment on participation for children aged 3 to 5 who have autism spectrum disorders. A total of 34 parents/caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders and 8 experts in autism spectrum disorders and/or measurement completed qualitative interviews for concept, content review, and cognitive interviewing. The result was a pool of 35 items for home/community domains for 3 scales. The outcome of this study was the development and content validation of the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire.