Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-4708902-20170204190043/@comment-100.0.192.63-20170816194730

Godzillavkk wrote: How about this? I don't have autism but one of my daughters does. One of the associated characteristics is literal-mindedness, i.e. people with autism often don't understand when folks are being sarcastic, ironic, or simply speaking in metaphor. I wonder if you have that kind of literal-mindedness. If so, it might make it challenging to know when people are making poetic comparisons (e.g. All Cats Have Aspbergers) vs. when they are making literal factual claims. For instance, the link you shared above is also a poetic, metaphorical comparison.

On another note, there are some physical differences in autistic brains -- it's not just how information is processed. There is something in the human brain called a "mirror neuron" which lights up when someone else does something that matches your own experience. For instance, when someone else throws a baseball, mirror neurons can make a connection that makes me feel some of the same sensations as if I were also actually throwing a baseball. These mirror neurons, thus, seem connected to our ability to empathize and our innate desire to imitate others (a characteristic that is quite dulled with autism). Autopsies of adult autistic brains has shown a marked deficiency in the number of mirror neurons. Moreover, female brains have significantly higher numbers of mirror neurons vs. men. If autism is a function of a diminished number of mirror neurons, then this would help explain why autism is observed so much more commonly in males (fewer to spare) and also why when it does show up in females, it is often in a more severe form (as it would require a more radical deficiency). You can read more about Ramarchandran and the mirror neuron theory (broken mirrors) here. Or you can watch a short video here.