Abstract
BackgroundBeyond the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), associated symptoms of anxiety can cause substantial impairment for individuals affected by ASD and those who care for them.MethodsWe utilized a potentiated startle paradigm with a puff of air to the neck as the unconditioned stimulus in order to investigate differences between response to cued fear and contextual anxiety among cognitively able adolescents diagnosed with ASD and an age- and IQ-matched typically developing group.ResultsIn a threat-modulated startle paradigm, response patterns to neutral, predictable, and unpredictable conditions were comparable across typically developing and ASD youth in terms of startle response magnitude and latency. However, the ASD group showed significantly greater absolute startle responsivity at baseline and throughout the experiment, suggesting possibly enhanced general sensitivity to threatening contexts. The ASD group, but not the control group, demonstrated moderate to strong negative correlations between psychophysiological response to unpredictable threats (uncertainty) and questionnaire measures of generalized anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and repetitive behavior.ConclusionsOur data suggest enhanced general reactivity among the ASD group, possibly reflecting greater sensitivity to the threatening context of the startle paradigm. Associations with the response to uncertainty may help explain shared neurobehavioral mechanisms in ASD and anxiety. This task can provide useful targets for future neuroimaging and genetics studies as well as specific avenues for intervention. We emphasize the importance of further basic and clinical research into links among these important constructs.
Highlights
Beyond the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), associated symptoms of anxiety can cause substantial impairment for individuals affected by ASD and those who care for them
Rodgers and colleagueshypothesize that the association between anxiety and repetitive behavior in ASD may be mediated at least in part by an ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ that arises due to atypical information processing, including basic sensory processing, that is common in ASD
For the intertrial interval (ITI) phase it is expected that the contextual anxiety will be highest in the between-cue times, when the timing of the air puff is uncertain, U >P >N
Summary
Beyond the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), associated symptoms of anxiety can cause substantial impairment for individuals affected by ASD and those who care for them. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a collection of neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by impaired social communication and repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behavior [1] In addition to these core symptoms, there is a high prevalence of anxiety concerns encompassing all diagnostic subtypes of anxiety [2,3]. IU may arise from atypical information processing, including basic sensory processing, common to ASD This atypical information processing in ASD impairs integration of environmental cues, leading to increased perception of ambiguity in ASD across multiple contexts. This in turn leads to increased worry and subsequent anxiety, including generalized anxiety
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