Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Propranolol, a nonselective beta blocker, produces noradrenergic blockade with central and peripheral nervous system effects.While propranolol is often prescribed for hypertension, it is also commonly prescribed for situational anxiety (stage fright, test anxiety, etc) due to its central activity.Previous work in this lab has examined the effect of propranolol on cognitive flexibility tasks.In a previous study in this lab, performance on simple cognitive flexibility tasks was shown to be increased in autistic individuals who take propranolol, whereas controls only exhibited improvement in difficult tasks.Our aim was to examine other possible benefits of propranolol on cognition.To do this, we compared performance on verbal fluency tasks, which require cognitive flexibility, between autistic and control individuals, under propranolol and placebo conditions.Furthermore, it is characteristic of individuals with autism to exhibit poor eye contact with others from an early age.Recent physiological evidence suggests that direct eye contact may be stressful to those affected by autism.Stress is well known to activate the noradrenergic system.Therefore, an agent that could reliably decrease the stress related to eye contact by acting to block noradrenergic activation may be beneficial to v
Author: Sanjida S. Saklayen
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2242105420