Economist.com: Autism and extraordinary ability

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From Economist.com:
"There is strong evidence for a link between genius and autism. In the first of three articles about the brain this week, we ask how that link works, and whether “neurotypicals” can benefit from the knowledge": http://www.economist.com/science/displa ... d=13489714

Interesting article. Thanks!

I think it is strange that the only way many neurotypicals can picture us is through a story that is based upon someone who is not even considered autistic.

They can, though, imagine that that's what they're doing, once they reach an age where such a perspective is possible.

I found that article's comments about the London street system and how the cabbie's brain literally changes as he learns "The Knowledge" interesting. I lived for a couple years in San Francisco, which has a block layout but the layout is often found by NT's to be counterintuitive. I personally never had a problem navigating downtown SF, and found myself giving directions to tourists who'd accidentally wandered into the Tenderloin while looking for a certain store in Union Square. I know we have some aspies here who live in London. Do any of them have an easy time remembering and navigating the street system?

What's the difference?

"...A standard diagnosis of autism requires three things to be present in an individual. Two of these three, impairments in social interaction and in communication with other people, are the results of autists lacking empathy or, in technical jargon, a “theory of mind”. In other words they cannot, as even fairly young neurotypicals can, put themselves in the position of another being and ask themselves what that other is thinking. The third criterion, however, is that a person has what are known as restrictive and repetitive behaviours and interests, or RRBI, in the jargon.

Until recently, the feeling among many researchers was that the first two features were crucial to someone becoming a savant. The idea was that mental resources which would have been used for interaction and communication could be redeployed to develop expertise in some arbitrary task. Now, though, that consensus is shifting. Several of the volume’s authors argue that it is the third feature, RRBI, that permits people to become savants.

Francesca Happé of King’s College, London, is one of them. As she observes, obsessional interests and repetitive behaviours would allow someone to practice, albeit inadvertently, whichever skill they were obsessed by. Malcolm Gladwell, in a book called “Outliers” which collated research done on outstanding people, suggested that anyone could become an expert in anything by practising for 10,000 hours. It would not be hard for an autistic individual to clock up that level of practice for the sort of skills, such as mathematical puzzles, that many neurotypicals would rapidly give up on..."



I could have told them that!

And in other breaking news... bears defecate in the woods and yes, the pope is catholic... stay tuned for more statements of the bleeding obvious!

asked centeniallman. Well, when you're growing up an undiagnosed aspie, things have to make sense. And the only way to reconcile the stuff in the books with reality is to assume that the stuff in the books is describing reality. That sets up a deep rooted confusion that can last a lifetime. That's the difference. An NT puts themselves in the position of another human being and comes up with a working solution. An aspie does the same and heads straight into conflict.