5 ms·

The theory is wonderful in its simplicity and I can see how that's appealing, but it doesn't feel correct to me. I don't think neurotypical people are really pa

by 63 4y ago

The theory is wonderful in its simplicity and I can see how that's appealing, but it doesn't feel correct to me. I don't think neurotypical people are really paying attention to everything they need to when talking to people and I (an autistic person) am just unable to. I also don't see how the theory addresses my state when I'm in between interests. As of now there's no overwhelming interest that consumes all my thoughts yet I still experience autism. This is an interesting model and I do appreciate the reframing from dysfunction to functioning differently, but I don't think it's a complete picture and I think it's especially bad at communicating how it feels to be autistic.

tgv 4y ago
That's because it falls in the trap of trying to explain a rather large set of vague symptoms (not causes, mind you) which has been put under the label 'autism' with one single factor, which is not even properly defined. But hey, it has a fancy new word!
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  This also happens with ADHD. There are 3 "types" but last I checked, I think there were believed to be 6 distinct disorders or underlying problems under those labels. You could have one or more of them. Psychology has come a long way in the last few decades but it still has a long way to go.
  - tgv 4y ago
    I'm actually not sure psychology has come a long way in the last decades. There's a ton of research, but almost all of it is simply wrong. Treatment hasn't progressed. The only new, somewhat successful therapy I know of is EMDR, and that's been overblown quite a bit. The rest was already around in the 1990s, and CBT is even older.
0olong 4y ago
For clarity, anything that pulls in your attention at any given time is an interest that's currently aroused. It's not always overwhelming! I just think that whatever it is typically consumes more of a monotropic person's processing resources than for the average brain.
eternityforest 4y ago
Neurotypical people at least to me seem to have a pretty amazing ability for parallel processing, but it doesn't seem to be "Paying attention" so much as it is automatic subconscious stuff. With dyspraxia, that I suspect I have, I think the difference is the same as software rendering vs having a GPU. They seem like they are aware of all of their limbs at once. They never check in one at a time. They never see a reflection of themselves and realize "Oh, better make sure my arms are moving, they've been clamped to my sides this whole time". Some enjoy running, and it seems to be almost meditative, not this miserable process of trying not to hurt themselves with their own feet while also remembering to look before crossing streets. They seem to have an amazingly rich web of automatic associations. The right thoughts just kind of arise at the appropriate times. They leave the house and never need any kind of process or planning to not forget their keys. They see a stop sign in their peripheral vision and ... somehow just automatically notice it and stop? And they seem to effortlessly get familiar with things. They learn without specifically studying anything. They go to a place a few times, suddenly... they know their way around it? They can retrace their steps? They know what they were doing an hour ago? And they can walk away from something and come back to it. They can leave a pot on the stove, do some other thing like get up to check the dryer, and then when they're done with that... they'll know to come back? It's almost like they've got a stack machine. They don't seem to be paying attention to everything at once, but they seem to have dozens of background tasks, each with more "storage and CPU" than I have consciously, and things are constantly darting in and out of their awareness and retreating to the background, but not being forgotten entirely. What they don't seem to be good at is chains of causations. They get weird about assigning causes to results without any theory, and really aggressive about pushing whatever idea they have. They seem to get into a very trial and error mindset and assume the solution to all problems is to just randomly do more stuff. They also seem to be slightly worse with details. They'll buy an appliance that doesn't fit because they didn't systematically look at every spec individually and go through all their memories of all similar situations. They seem to live more holistically, analyzing things by just observing, and letting whatever they need to know jump out at them, which works 80% of the time. The greater number of interests at once would seem to follow from the ability to have multiple thoughts at once, and to more rapidly progress at any one thing, and the fact that there are a lot more popular interests that are well suited and appealing to people with the ability for parallel thought. If it takes you a year to learn as much as others learn in a week, you might not want to try as many things. And if you have trouble keeping track of 3D space, most popular hobbies could be less enjoyable. Plus, if you have any social challenges, that also might make a large number of activities less enjoyable, especially in a world where so many popular pursuits are mostly physical and rather uncomfortable, making them less appealing if the social aspect isn't working for you.

by 63 4y ago

tgv 4y ago

That's because it falls in the trap of trying to explain a rather large set of vague symptoms (not causes, mind you) which has been put under the label 'autism' with one single factor, which is not even properly defined. But hey, it has a fancy new word!

kayodelycaon 4y ago
This also happens with ADHD. There are 3 "types" but last I checked, I think there were believed to be 6 distinct disorders or underlying problems under those labels. You could have one or more of them. Psychology has come a long way in the last few decades but it still has a long way to go.
- tgv 4y ago
  I'm actually not sure psychology has come a long way in the last decades. There's a ton of research, but almost all of it is simply wrong. Treatment hasn't progressed. The only new, somewhat successful therapy I know of is EMDR, and that's been overblown quite a bit. The rest was already around in the 1990s, and CBT is even older.

0olong 4y ago

For clarity, anything that pulls in your attention at any given time is an interest that's currently aroused. It's not always overwhelming! I just think that whatever it is typically consumes more of a monotropic person's processing resources than for the average brain.

eternityforest 4y ago

Neurotypical people at least to me seem to have a pretty amazing ability for parallel processing, but it doesn't seem to be "Paying attention" so much as it is automatic subconscious stuff. With dyspraxia, that I suspect I have, I think the difference is the same as software rendering vs having a GPU. They seem like they are aware of all of their limbs at once. They never check in one at a time. They never see a reflection of themselves and realize "Oh, better make sure my arms are moving, they've been clamped to my sides this whole time". Some enjoy running, and it seems to be almost meditative, not this miserable process of trying not to hurt themselves with their own feet while also remembering to look before crossing streets. They seem to have an amazingly rich web of automatic associations. The right thoughts just kind of arise at the appropriate times. They leave the house and never need any kind of process or planning to not forget their keys. They see a stop sign in their peripheral vision and ... somehow just automatically notice it and stop? And they seem to effortlessly get familiar with things. They learn without specifically studying anything. They go to a place a few times, suddenly... they know their way around it? They can retrace their steps? They know what they were doing an hour ago? And they can walk away from something and come back to it. They can leave a pot on the stove, do some other thing like get up to check the dryer, and then when they're done with that... they'll know to come back? It's almost like they've got a stack machine. They don't seem to be paying attention to everything at once, but they seem to have dozens of background tasks, each with more "storage and CPU" than I have consciously, and things are constantly darting in and out of their awareness and retreating to the background, but not being forgotten entirely. What they don't seem to be good at is chains of causations. They get weird about assigning causes to results without any theory, and really aggressive about pushing whatever idea they have. They seem to get into a very trial and error mindset and assume the solution to all problems is to just randomly do more stuff. They also seem to be slightly worse with details. They'll buy an appliance that doesn't fit because they didn't systematically look at every spec individually and go through all their memories of all similar situations. They seem to live more holistically, analyzing things by just observing, and letting whatever they need to know jump out at them, which works 80% of the time. The greater number of interests at once would seem to follow from the ability to have multiple thoughts at once, and to more rapidly progress at any one thing, and the fact that there are a lot more popular interests that are well suited and appealing to people with the ability for parallel thought. If it takes you a year to learn as much as others learn in a week, you might not want to try as many things. And if you have trouble keeping track of 3D space, most popular hobbies could be less enjoyable. Plus, if you have any social challenges, that also might make a large number of activities less enjoyable, especially in a world where so many popular pursuits are mostly physical and rather uncomfortable, making them less appealing if the social aspect isn't working for you.