Atypical responses to fearful stimuli and the presence of various forms of anxiety are commonly seen in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The fear potentiated startle paradigm (FPS), which has been studied both in relation to anxiety and as a probe for amygdala function, was carried out in 97 children aged 9–14 years including 48 (12 female) with ASD and 49 (14 female) with typical development (TD). In addition, exploratory analyses were conducted examining the association between FPS and amygdala volume as assessed with magnetic resonance imaging in a subset of the children with ASD with or without an anxiety disorder with available MRI data. While the startle latency was increased in the children with ASD, there was no group difference in FPS. FPS was not significantly associated with traditional Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) or “autism distinct” forms of anxiety. Within the autism group, FPS was negatively correlated with amygdala volume. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the association between FPS and anxiety severity was significantly moderated by the size of the amygdala, such that the association between FPS and anxiety was significantly more positive in children with larger amygdalas than smaller amygdalas. These findings highlight the heterogeneity of emotional reactivity associated with ASD and the difficulties in establishing biologically meaningful probes of altered brain function.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍儿童的恐惧增强惊吓：与焦虑症状和杏仁核体积的关联

自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 儿童常见于对恐惧刺激的非典型反应和各种形式的焦虑。在 97 名 9-14 岁的儿童中进行了恐惧强化惊吓范式 (FPS)，该范式已针对焦虑和杏仁核功能进行了研究，其中包括 48 名（12 名女性）患有 ASD 和 49 名（14 名女性） ) 具有典型发展 (TD)。此外，还进行了探索性分析，检查了 FPS 与杏仁核体积之间的关联，通过磁共振成像评估了一部分患有或不患有焦虑症的 ASD 儿童以及可用的 MRI 数据。虽然 ASD 儿童的惊吓潜伏期增加，但 FPS 没有组间差异。FPS 与传统的诊断和统计手册 (DSM) 或“自闭症不同”形式的焦虑没有显着相关性。在自闭症组中，FPS杏仁核体积呈负相关。多元回归分析显示，杏仁核的大小显着缓和了 FPS 与焦虑严重程度之间的关联，因此杏仁核较大的儿童的 FPS 与焦虑之间的关联显着高于杏仁核较小的儿童。这些发现强调了与 ASD 相关的情绪反应的异质性以及建立具有生物学意义的大脑功能改变探针的困难。