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Abnormal classical eye-blink conditioning in autism

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Abstract

Cerebellar and limbic system pathologies have been reported in persons with autism. Because these brain areas are involved centrally in the acquisition and performance in classical eyeblink conditioning, this study evaluated conditioning in 11 persons with autism. Compared to matched controls, persons with autism learned the task faster but performed short-latency, high-amplitude conditioned responses. In addition, differences in learning the extinction rates systematically varied with age thus suggesting a developmental conditioning abnormality in autism. The observed pattern of eye-blink conditioning may indicate that persons with autism have the ability to rapidly associate paired stimuli but, depending on processing of certain contextual information, have impairments in modulating the timing and topography of the learned responses. This abnormality may relate to deviant cerebellar-hippocampal interactions. The classical eye-blink conditioning paradigm may provide a useful model for understanding the biological and behavioral bases of autism.

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Supported by National Institute of Mental Health, grant MH44052 to J.E.S., and by assistance from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism. Some of this research constituted a portion of a doctoral thesis presented by L.L.S. to the faculty of the Program in Neural Science and School of Education, Indiana University, October 1992. The informed consent of all subjects used in this experiment was obtained prior to their participation and the rights of the subjects were protected. We thank the participants in this study and their families who made this study possible.

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Sears, L.L., Finn, P.R. & Steinmetz, J.E. Abnormal classical eye-blink conditioning in autism. J Autism Dev Disord 24, 737–751 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02172283

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