I was looking up bits on flirting, because, like most of the others on here, am very confused by it. One of the articles I found was this one https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199901/flirting-fascination which has the following paragraph about half way down:
Quote:
The moment of attraction, in fact, mimics a kind of brain damage. At the University of Iowa, where he is professor and head of neurology, Antonio Damasio, M.D., has found that people with damage to the connection between their limbic structures and the higher brain are smart and rational-but unable to make decisions. They bring commitment phobia to a whole new level. In attraction, we don't stop and think, we react, operating on a "gut" feeling, with butterflies, giddiness, sweaty palms and flushed faces brought on by the reactivity of the emotional brain. We suspend intellect at least long enough to propel us to the next step in the mating game-flirtation.
I then thought that maybe it has something to do with aspergers, so I 'googled aspergers limbic system' and on the first page of results, I got this pdf file
http://shred-of-dignity.org/Shred-of-Dignity/Home_files/Aspergers.pdf, and the third paragraph reads as follows:
Quote:
The key to understanding AS neurology and behavior is reviewing some features of
NT neurology that most people aren't aware of. Basically, NT's have limbic system
structures that function as a Social/Sensory Processing Unit (SSPU). All sensory
input and output runs through the SSPU, where it is matched to templates - preestablished
patterns (archetypes or stereotypes) - and then a version of the template
is used for higher brain processing and memory. This process is automatic and
subconscious, and is strengthened through practice, like a muscle, without
examination or critical thinking. This explains why NT's automatically have opinions,
regardless of their level of ignorance about the issue. NT brains don't have a native
"I don't know" state. Input has to be matched to some sort of a template in order to
have meaning
This also would also explain why so many flirting signals for us seem like 'normal conversation'. Lastly, I would like this thread to avoid any 'this makes us smarter than NT's' type comments.
Does it look like I was onto something? Was I wrong? Are either of these sources wrong? Or was this common knowledge to many of you?
Discuss.
30 Jan 2015, 8:45 pm
