as small as a world and as large as alone

11:17am June 21, 2014

dendriforming:

youneedacat:

Enhanced Perceptual Functioning in Autism: An Update, and Eight Principles of Autistic Perception

Abstract:  We propose an ‘‘Enhanced Perceptual Functioning’’ model encompassing the main differences between autistic and non-autistic social and non-social perceptual processing: locally oriented visual and auditory perception, enhanced low-level discrimination, use of a more posterior network in ‘‘complex’’ visual tasks, enhanced perception of first order static stimuli, diminished perception of complex movement, autonomy of low-level information processing toward higher-order operations, and differential relation between perception and general intelligence. Increased perceptual expertise may be implicated in the choice of special ability in savant autistics, and in the variability of apparent presentations within PDD (autism with and without typical speech, Asperger syndrome) in non-savant autistics. The overfunctioning of brain regions typically involved in primary perceptual functions may explain the autistic perceptual endophenotype.

This article is well worth reading if you can figure out a way to read through all the academic jargon.  I can’t 100% understand it and I’ve read it over and over again throughout the years, but it’s still the best explanation of autism (including many things not explained any other way) I’ve ever read through actual researchers.  And it makes more sense to me than a lot of more popularized theories that are easier to communicate about, but incorporate less of the research literature into their explanations of things.  The above link is a PDF file.  And warning that it’s not easy going, reading-wise, at all, but if you can slog through even a little of it, it’s worth it.  It explains things (including seeming “discrepancies” in research) that other theories simply don’t explain at all and don’t even try to explain.  And most notably for some people here, it makes the case that social skills aren’t the fundamental difference between autistic and nonautistic people at all.  Autistic people interested in theories of autism at all should try to become as familiar with Enhanced Perceptual Functioning as they are with “intense world theory” and the like — more so, if possible, although again it’s harder because EPF is written in the language of research and IWT is usually written for popular audiences.  Ideally, someone who can easily read this kind of jargon could help translate papers like this for the rest of us, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen.

I can try to translate it over the summer, maybe. Some of the more recent EPF stuff is confusing to me (I don’t know what veridical mapping is), but cognitive science/neuro jargon is generally something I can do reasonably well.

I would never demand that of anyone, but wow if you actually had the time and energy and willingness that would be utterly wonderful.  Because this is one of the better of the autism theories out there, but too few people have access to it because nobody translates it into plain English (and when it’s covered in the papers, it’s covered really badly).  So theories that have less scientific basis, but more ability to be discussed in plain English, gain more support among regular people.

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