3 ms·

A big problem with the label "autism" is that it does not seem to map to one, unified, underlying condition. Intense "special interests" may be useful for some

• atleta 6y ago
  Baron-Cohen indeed created a tool to measure it based on his theory which he hints at in this interview: he says autism means that you have a high 'systemizing quitient' AND a low EQ. And of course it's a spectrum. I don't know the validity of this, but it's his rather specific definition. (And it's not about specific interests in general.)
  • caddemon 6y ago
    I think that characterization misses some key symptoms in certain profiles of ASD though. Sensory sensitivity can be hugely important. There was a really interesting study where they took a few common ASD mouse model mutations and instead of mutating all neurons, only targeted primary sensory neurons (so nothing in the brain was directly altered!). These mice developed to have very similar behavioral profile to the "normal" models - not just the core sensory symptoms, but more general anxiety, increased preference for objects over peers, etc.
• LaundroMat 6y ago
  I can't look it up now, but some theories define it as "context-blindness".