Brains: NT=automatic, ASD=manual

Page 2 of 2 [ 31 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2

Joined: 7 Aug 2008
Age: 76
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,762
Location: California

04 Jun 2009, 11:11 am

I like your analogy, wigglyspider. I think it takes the complicated subject matter of Asperger's and puts it into a neat little package so that it may just make it a little more understandable to some people.

_________________
Stung by the splendor of a sudden thought. ~ Robert Browning

ruveyn
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Age: 89
Gender: Male
Posts: 31,502
Location: New Jersey

04 Jun 2009, 11:24 am

Good analogy.

My analogy is ASD is like painting by the numbers.

ruveyn

marshall
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,752
Location: Turkey

04 Jun 2009, 11:32 am

Eller wrote:

This applies to social stuff.
I seem to have MORE instincts than the average NT person in other areas (specifically: maths, science and music), though. I don't have to think about things that would keep other people busy for hours.

Same here.

I think the areas of strength and difficulty vary from one individual to another. I have good intuition/instinct when it comes to understanding but poor intuition/instinct when it comes to performing.

Alphabetania
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 1 May 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 665
Location: South Africa

04 Jun 2009, 2:26 pm

wigglyspider wrote:

Most people are born with instincts - automated systems in their brain - but ASD people seem to be born (assuming we're born with it, which I know may or may not be true, but whatever) with a number of instincts missing, so they have to figure out how to manually operate their own brain. (To varying degrees, depending on where they are on the spectrum.)

I wonder about that.

Most people have a sheep-like instinct to do what others do. I am happy enough to do what everyone else is doing as long as it makes sense to me, whereas to NTs it doesn't appear to have to make sense. A bunch of them will go off and get drunk and have hangovers, and I cannot figure out why on earth one would want to or need to do that. Now why I have to be called the one with a deviant brain, I don't know, when they are the ones who are acting stupidly.

I too have the instinct and desire to breed, but I just cannot think of enough sound reasons to follow that instinct, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people don't think like I do. When it comes to this issue, I feel like much of the world is quite mad. The reason for breeding seems self-evident to them, yet if it is so easy to understand, why can't they explain it to me in a manner which makes sense to me? I think they just do irrational things and then try to come up with rational explanations for their behaviour.

_________________
When I must wait in a queue, I dance. Classified as an aspie with ADHD on 31 March 2009 at the age of 43.

lionesss
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Aug 2008
Age: 50
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,305
Location: not anywhere near you

04 Jun 2009, 2:41 pm

Very creative!

matsuiny2004
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Mar 2008
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,152

04 Jun 2009, 3:18 pm

yep that description explains my life

_________________
A person that does not think he has problems already has one-Me

surveys are scientific, they have numbers in them- me (satire)

wigglyspider
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,306
Location: WA, USA

04 Jun 2009, 3:44 pm

0_equals_true wrote:

It depend what it is you are talking about. NT=automatic, Autistic=manual is fairly nondescript way of looking t it. Executive dysfunction can make things less automated for sure, but then again people who are savant (and I'm not saying all are) that is a prime example of automation in cognition. Basically cognition is highly automated as it is. ASD individual may actually turn out be more automated, however there is no reason to assume one way or the other.

So really I don't think that definition works in general. You might say it is a different mix of what is automated and what is less so.

Short of 'neurological difference'. There is no a simple answer. You might mention inherent social behaviours in NT, that they take for granted.

That's exactly what I'm talking about though. Automated and manual instincts, like social behavior.
And savants are an irregular thing. I don't think it's automation so much as it is their brain being wired exactly right so as to lend itself to efficient learning in a certain area.
And I'm not assuming, I'm going off what I know of myself.

_________________
"You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed."
- Joe Simpson

Last edited by wigglyspider on 04 Jun 2009, 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

pandd
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,430

04 Jun 2009, 3:47 pm

Alphabetania wrote:

The reason for breeding seems self-evident to them, yet if it is so easy to understand, why can't they explain it to me in a manner which makes sense to me? I think they just do irrational things and then try to come up with rational explanations for their behaviour.

I think you have this all upside down. Which came first, breeding or rationality?

If rationality were such that it generally prevented humans reproducing, then humans would simply not be characterized by rationality.

wigglyspider
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,306
Location: WA, USA

04 Jun 2009, 3:50 pm

fiddlerpianist wrote:

Well, it's catchy...

I would agree with Eller: only true for social situations. Also, things that are manual can eventually become automatic. If you actually were using the transmission analogy (not sure if you were), I agree with this a bit more. Learning to drive stick takes a whole lot of conscious thought at first, but after awhile, driving a manual is automatic.

Yes, that's what I was thinking of. It's still not actually automatic, it's actually stick. Which is why we might still be a little awkward sometimes, because we can never acquire the genuinely automatic systems, even if we can become very good at driving stick.

_________________
"You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed."
- Joe Simpson

mechanicalgirl39
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 Apr 2009
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,340

04 Jun 2009, 3:50 pm

I'm automated in some ways, such as making short cuts when thinking through a problem.

I'm not however automated in such things as reading people's behaviour, or figuring out whether a behaviour is the right thing....hence ASD.

_________________
'You're so cold, but you feel alive
Lay your hands on me, one last time' (Breaking Benjamin)

wigglyspider
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,306
Location: WA, USA

04 Jun 2009, 3:56 pm

Callista wrote:

It doesn't really do much for the sensory aspect of things. For that, it's more filtered vs. unfiltered input. NTs selectively forget most of what they experience; autistic people forget less. That means you're easily overwhelmed, detail-oriented, and experience things very intensely.

I think that's totally part of it though. Everyone receives the same amount of sensory input (unless they have a physical problem) and most people automatically filter it, but ASD people have to sort it all out themselves, and decide what it means, which bits of it are important, etc.

_________________
"You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed."
- Joe Simpson

wigglyspider
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,306
Location: WA, USA

04 Jun 2009, 3:57 pm

JetLag wrote:

Thank you, that's exactly what I was trying for. :3

_________________
"You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed."
- Joe Simpson

wigglyspider
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,306
Location: WA, USA

04 Jun 2009, 4:05 pm

Alphabetania wrote:

wigglyspider wrote:

I wonder about that.

Most people have a sheep-like instinct to do what others do. I am happy enough to do what everyone else is doing as long as it makes sense to me, whereas to NTs it doesn't appear to have to make sense. A bunch of them will go off and get drunk and have hangovers, and I cannot figure out why on earth one would want to or need to do that. Now why I have to be called the one with a deviant brain, I don't know, when they are the ones who are acting stupidly.

I too have the instinct and desire to breed, but I just cannot think of enough sound reasons to follow that instinct, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people don't think like I do. When it comes to this issue, I feel like much of the world is quite mad. The reason for breeding seems self-evident to them, yet if it is so easy to understand, why can't they explain it to me in a manner which makes sense to me? I think they just do irrational things and then try to come up with rational explanations for their behaviour.

Yes, exactly, that is actually an instinct in the sense that nature biologists use it, which is how I was using it. :3 Following the group can be a good instinct, since in the time it takes you to think about WHY you would want to do what everyone else is doing, you might get eaten by a lion or something. (It might have less severe consequences today, like making it hard to get a good job.)
But I do think some aspects of autism might be evolutionary advantages, which sounds more like where you're coming from, heh.

_________________
"You gotta keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions, you know. If you don't make decisions, you're stuffed."
- Joe Simpson

Alphabetania
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 1 May 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 665
Location: South Africa

04 Jun 2009, 6:05 pm

pandd wrote:

Haha, you're so rational! Actually, a former friend of mine who was working at the genetics department of the local university held a similar theory, viz. that the very reason why more people don't think like I do, is that such thoughts are often genetically driven, and people who have thoughts like mine tend to die out, because they do not breed and therefore do not pass on the genes which produce such thinking to others!

_________________
When I must wait in a queue, I dance. Classified as an aspie with ADHD on 31 March 2009 at the age of 43.

DentArthurDent
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Jul 2008
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,884
Location: Victoria, Australia

05 Jun 2009, 2:52 am

I hated it until I read this(below) When I clicked on the post I fully expected to get into a heated discussion about 'aspie elitism' if the quote by Abstract_Logic explains the OP's meaning then I agree. Although I fear the 'elitist' idiots will give it a different perspective

Abstract_Logic wrote:

That's a very good way of describing it. It exemplifies how ASD people have to consciously work out certain social rules that normally would be instinctual for NTs.

_________________
"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance anyday"
Douglas Adams

"Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand" Karl Marx

Page 2 of 2 [ 31 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2

Jump to:

Brains: NT=automatic, ASD=manual Post Reply New Topic

Brains: NT=automatic, ASD=manual