Autism As Extreme Male Brain
Via Ann Althouse, guesting at Instapundit, there is a superb NY Times piece on the possible cause of autism.
It reminded me of this article, The Geek Syndrome, that I linked long ago, and that piqued my interest in Asperger’s Syndrome and the autism spectrum. The two articles and points fit together neatly. The “male” or type S brain is more geekly, and so two particularly geeky parents implies two type S parents, leading to a greater chance of autism in offspring. Autism becomes defined as extreme male type brain.
What’s intriguing is that there’s been some research to back up the conjecture, as you’ll see on the second page of the NY Times article. As Simon Baron-Cohen says:
One needs to be extremely careful in advancing a cause for autism, because this field is rife with theories that have collapsed under empirical scrutiny. Nonetheless, my hypothesis is that autism is the genetic result of “assortative mating” between parents who are both strong systemizers. Assortative mating is the term we use when like is attracted to like, and there are four significant reasons to believe it is happening here.
FIRST, both mothers and fathers of children with autism complete the embedded figures test faster than men and women in the general population.
Second, both mothers and fathers of children with autism are more likely to have fathers who are talented systemizers (engineers, for example).
Third, when we look at brain activity with magnetic resonance imaging, males and females on average show different patterns while performing empathizing or systemizing tasks. But both mothers and fathers of children with autism show strong male patterns of brain activity.
Fourth, both mothers and fathers of children with autism score above average on a questionnaire that measures how many autistic traits an individual has. These results suggest a genetic cause of autism, with both parents contributing genes that ultimately relate to a similar kind of mind: one with an affinity for thinking systematically.
Fascinating stuff.
Interesting stuff. I have three sons and two have been diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (one of them being Asperger’s Syndrome) and my third may very well be “on the spectrum” as they call it. I’ve actually had the Psych dept. at UCONN offer to test the third for free as they did the other two. It’s very frustrating for my wife to be surrounded by so much systematic “male-think”. God bless her.
Posted by Gary on 08/08 at 03:28 PMWhat would extreme empathizers be like?
Posted by Joseph Hertzlinger on 08/08 at 05:05 PMMy mother, perhaps?
Posted by Jay on 08/08 at 05:31 PM
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