Neurophysiological correlate of emotional regulation in cognitive and motor deficits in Tourette’s syndrome

Objectives: The present study investigated the role of different emotions in the expression of cognitive and motor control abilities of children having Tourette’s syndrome (TS) compared to healthy controls. Methods: The electroencephalography activity of 33 children (mean age in final sample: TS (n = 10) = 10.5 ± 2.3; control (n = 10) = 10.1 ± 2.9) was recorded during a visual task consisting of four emotional face cues (anger, happiness, neutral and sadness) followed by a target in congruent or incongruent position with emotional cue. The participants were asked to indicate the target location. Results: The TS patients showed a shorter latency of the P1 and N170 only for anger cues compared to controls. In addition, sLORETA results showed an increased activation in the left occipital area and a decreased activation in the left amygdala, temporal and cingulate for anger cues in TS patients. Coherently, TS patients showed a lower accuracy of response only with anger cue and severity of tics resulted correlated with the event-related potentials data and behavioural responses linked to anger cue. Conclusions: These results suggest that children with TS process emotions (in particular the anger) differently from the controls, and that its regulation seems to have an important role in the cognitive and motor deficits in TS.研究目的：本研究探讨了相较于健康对照组，不同情绪在抽动秽语综合征（Tourette’s syndrome, TS）儿童的认知与运动控制能力表达中的作用。 研究方法：本研究记录了33名儿童的脑电图（electroencephalography, EEG）活动，最终有效样本的年龄信息为：抽动秽语综合征组（n=10）平均年龄10.5±2.3岁，健康对照组（n=10）平均年龄10.1±2.9岁。所有儿童在完成一项视觉任务时被采集脑电信号，该任务包含4种情绪面孔线索（愤怒、快乐、中性、悲伤），随后呈现与情绪线索位置一致或不一致的目标刺激，要求被试报告目标的位置。 研究结果：相较于健康对照组，仅在愤怒线索条件下，TS组儿童的P1与N170成分潜伏期更短。此外，标准化低分辨率脑电磁断层成像（sLORETA）结果显示，在愤怒线索条件下，TS组儿童左侧枕叶脑区激活增强，而左侧杏仁核、颞叶及扣带回脑区激活减弱。与之相符的是，TS组儿童仅在愤怒线索条件下的反应准确率更低，且抽动症状严重程度与愤怒线索相关的事件相关电位（event-related potentials, ERP）数据及行为反应存在相关性。 研究结论：上述结果表明，TS儿童对情绪（尤其是愤怒情绪）的加工方式与健康对照人群存在差异，且情绪调节似乎在TS患者的认知与运动功能缺损中发挥重要作用。