ABSTRACT
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder.Its typical symptoms include social disorder, stereotyped behavior and restrictive interest.In addition, sensory abnormality is also a common symptom of ASD individuals.Pre-attentive processing is an automatic cognitive process that takes place before attention and is independent of consciousness, which reflects the ability to automatically detect changes in the environment of brain.Many researches show that the sensory abnormality and social ability disorder in ASD patients may be related to the defects in the pre-attentive processing stage.Mismatch negativity (MMN) is the most commonly used indicator of pre-attentive processing.ASD individuals show abnormal MMN in response to both social and non-social stimulus.Among them, the pre-attentive processing defect of non-social stimuli in ASD individuals is manifested as the amplitude or latency of MMN induced by single tones, voice or visual stimuli, which is different from that of normal people.The pre-attentive processing defect of social stimuli in ASD individuals is manifested as the amplitude or latency of MMN induced by emotional voice and emotional face, which is different from that of normal people.This result not only helps to find the physiological mechanism of sensory and social disorders in ASD individuals, but also provides theoretical support for MMN as an auxiliary diagnostic index of ASD.Future research on the pre-attentive processing of ASD individuals should pay more attention to enriching the research paradigms of MMN and adopting more kinds of social stimuli.At the same time, the influence of ASD genetic factors on MMN can also be one of the concerns of future research.
ABSTRACT
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental behavioral disorders, with the annually increased incidence in recent years.As one of the core symptoms of ASD, sensory abnormality not only affects the skill acquisition of affected children, but also brings great pain to caregivers and families.It is shown that early intervention of sensory abnormality can significantly improve the prognosis of ASD.However, early intervention depends on the early identification and diagnosis of sensory abnormality by clinicians.This study aims to review the clinical features, assessment tools, and intervention methods of sensory abnormalities in ASD children in recent years, thus contribu-ting to the accurate and effective diagnosis, and timely intervention of ASD.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a standardized method to assess somatosensory function. The collection of qualitative information, during the QST procedure, could be an interesting way to facilitate the characterization of altered sensory perception and the identification of different pain phenotypes. The aims of this study were 1) to classify qualitative fieldnotes of sensory abnormalities collected during an independent QST study, and 2) to generate a qualitative interview guide that could be included in the traditional QST procedure as a step towards the implementation of a mixed methods approach. PATIENTS AND METHODS: QST data were collected from 48 chronic neuropathic pain patients treated with spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Three body areas, with or without SCS, were tested: the painful limb targeted by SCS, the contralateral area, and the ipsilateral upper limb. After each trial of each QST modality, patients were encouraged to report any sensory abnormalities they could identify with a pain quality scale or using their own words. RESULTS: Qualitative self-reported sensory abnormalities were dichotomized into two groups: altered sensory intensities and altered sensory perceptions. Altered sensory intensities were classified as sensory loss or sensory gain subgroups. Altered sensory perceptions were classified as paresthesia and dysesthesia subgroups Overall, 630 qualitative fieldnotes of altered sensations were collected: 385 on the painful limb, 173 at the contralateral area, and 72 at the ipsilateral upper limb. Based on these qualitative data, we propose a standardized method to collect qualitative data involving 9 open- and close-ended questions and 21 codes. CONCLUSION: Our findings have highlighted the value of qualitative sensory evaluation during QST and constitute an important milestone in the development of a mixed methods protocol in phenotyping research.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) recently included sensory processing abnormalities in the diagnostic criteria for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is no standard method for evaluating sensory abnormalities in individuals with ASD. METHODS: Fifteen individuals with ASD and 15 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled in this study. We compared objective pain sensitivity by measuring the pain detection threshold and pain tolerance to three different stimuli (electricity, heat, and cold). Then, we compared both subjective pain sensitivity, assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS), and quality of pain, assessed by the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), to determine the maximum tolerable pain intensities of each stimulation. RESULTS: The pain detection threshold and pain tolerance of individuals with ASD were not impaired, indicating that there were no differences in the somatic perception of pain between groups. However, individuals with ASD were hyposensitive to subjective pain intensity compared to controls (VAS; electrical: p = 0.044, cold: p = 0.011, heat: p = 0.042) and hyposensitive to affective aspects of pain sensitivity (SF-MPQ; electrical: p = 0.0071, cold: p = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the cognitive pathways for pain processing are impaired in ASD and, furthermore, that our methodology can be used to assess pain sensitivity in individuals with ASD. Further investigations into sensory abnormalities in individuals with ASD are needed to clarify the pathophysiologic processes that may alter sensory processing in this disorder.
