時間的に過剰な処理という視点からみた自閉スペクトラム症の感覚過敏

Hypersensitivity as Extraordinary High Temporal Processing in Individuals with Autism-Spectrum Disorders

自閉スペクトラム症者の多くが，感覚過敏・感覚鈍麻という問題を訴える。これまで，刺激の検出感度の上昇，脳の構造的・機能的変容，分子レベルの抑制機能の低下などが研究されてきたが，まだ自閉スペクトラム症者の感覚過敏のすべてを説明できていない。筆者らは，この問題の一端が，過剰に向上した刺激の時間処理精度に起因する可能性を示した。このように，極めて高い刺激の時間処理能力を示す症例などをもとに研究を進めることは，臨床への貢献はもちろんのこと，脳における時間の知覚メカニズムの解明に寄与するだろう。

Abstract

Most individuals with autism-spectrum disorders have hypersensitivity/hyposensitivity to various types of sensory stimuli. Although several hypotheses such as higher sensitivity to stimuli, alterations in brain structure and function, and dysfunction of inhibitory systems at the molecular level have been suggested, there is no convincing evidence. We found that individuals with high temporal resolution tended to have strong hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and vice versa. In addition, we focused on a case with extraordinarily high temporal resolution across the tactile, auditory, and audio-tactile domains. We believe that studying such an extreme case of temporal processing could facilitate an understanding of the neural basis of time perception.