So as far as I understand it, the subject wants to understand the causes of the behaviors mentioned in the topic through the analysis of the actors (that is, some autistic people). Then my answer will focus on the analysis of the actors.
1. According to the diagnostic criteria, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) still needs to be diagnosed through the behavior observation system provided by the corresponding diagnostic manual (such as DSM). Although this diagnostic method has some shortcomings, such as fuzziness and strong subjectivity, it is undeniable that it has significance at the current development stage and is the fruit of ASD intervention from psychoanalysis to evidence-based practice.
Let's take a look at the diagnostic criteria of ASD related to this topic in DSM-5 (although these criteria have been cited frequently and exposed recently, I still feel it necessary to write the original text):
A. In many cases, social communication and social interaction continue to be insufficient, as shown below, at present or in history (the examples are illustrative and not exhaustive; See the text):
1. Defects of social-emotional reciprocity, such as abnormal social style and failure of normal back-and-forth dialogue; Reduce sharing interest, emotion or influence; Unable to initiate or respond to social interaction.
2. The defects of nonverbal communication used in social interaction, such as poor combination of verbal and nonverbal communication; From the abnormality of eye contact and body language to the defect of understanding and using gestures: to the complete lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.
3. Defects in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships, such as difficulty in adjusting behaviors to various social environments; Sharing imaginary games or difficulties in making friends; Not interested in peers.
Try to translate the key points.
Diagnostic criteria 1: persistent social communication and interaction obstacles in various situations. The performance is as follows:
1, defects in social and emotional interaction, such as abnormal social style, inability to maintain dialogue, difficulty in sharing interests and communicating emotions with others, inability to initiate or respond to social interaction correctly, etc. , to varying degrees;
2. Obstacles in nonverbal communication, such as the inability to integrate oral and nonverbal communication methods, the inability to use or understand social cues such as eyes and body language, vary in degree;
3. Difficulties in understanding, developing and maintaining interpersonal relationships, such as not being able to actively adjust behavior patterns to adapt to corresponding situations, being difficult to play imaginary games or make friends, and lacking interest in others, vary in degree.
B. Restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests or activities, at least in the following two ways, current or historical (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; See the text):
1. Stereotyped or repetitive movements, the use of objects or words (for example, simple sports stereotypes, arranging toys or flipping objects, imitating language, special phrases).
2. Insist on the sameness, the routine, or the ritual mode of verbal or nonverbal behavior (for example, the extreme pain of minor changes, the difficulty of transition, the rigid thinking mode, the greeting ceremony, and the need to take the same route or eat the same food every day).
3. Highly restricted and fixed interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (for example, strong attachment or concentration on unusual things, excessively restricted or persistent interests).
4. Overreacting or under-reacting to sensory input, or being unusually interested in the sensory aspects of the environment (for example, being obviously indifferent to pain/temperature, having an adverse reaction to specific sounds or textures, smelling or touching objects excessively, and being fascinated by light or motion visually).
Diagnostic criteria 2: Limited and repetitive behavior, interest or activity pattern. Meet at least the following two characteristics:
1, rigid and repetitive body movements, manipulation or verbal use of objects, such as waving constantly, obsessed with arranging toys in a straight line, repeating oral English, turning in circles, running constantly, etc. ;
2. Reject any minor changes, adhere to fixed daily procedures and ritualized oral or non-verbal behaviors, such as uneasy reaction to minor changes, rigid thinking patterns, and eating only the same food every day.
3. Narrow interests with abnormal intensity and concentration, such as playing with a thread for a day;
4. Feeling too dull or too sensitive, or having abnormal reactions to certain kinds of feelings, such as not caring about pain, infatuating with certain auditory, visual, tactile or olfactory stimuli, and having abnormal interest in light, such as staring at the sun and seeing tears.
The above two diagnostic criteria roughly summarize the behavioral characteristics of autistic patients, which can be used to respond to the questions in the topic. For example, it is difficult to understand the characteristics of social cues, which makes some movies or TV programs that run through social interaction between people have no "appreciation" for some autistic people; For example, some ASD people may develop stronger thinking ability in images, but their thinking ability in language and mode is weak, and weather forecast and advertisements can obviously provide them with more suitable opportunities to develop this ability. The above are just two examples, and the situation of different ASD individuals is definitely different, so I won't go into details here.
Second, from the perspective of neuroscience, I'm only interested in neuroscience, but it's not a professional field. As I said at the beginning, I can make soy sauce and throw a brick to attract jade. At present, the neuroscience research related to autism should mainly focus on the neuroimaging research of autism, especially the application of this research in the diagnosis of autism. Although there is still a long way to go, it has little effect.
First of all, it needs to be clear that the relationship between a certain behavior characteristic of ASD people and an abnormal brain model has two characteristics: one is the heterogeneity of causes, and the other is the heterogeneity of behavior.
The former means that people with the same behavioral characteristics do not necessarily show the same abnormal patterns in their brains. Specifically, on this issue, that is, two autistic people who also like watching advertisements but don't like watching movies may have completely different abnormal patterns in their brains. For example, at the current research level, the picture on the TV screen may disappear because of the broken picture tube, signal interruption or power failure. In addition, it is certain that a large number of brain functions are not only related to a specific source, but also to a wider range of neural networks.
The latter means that different autistic people have the same abnormal brain pattern, but not necessarily the same behavior.
After clarifying these two points, it should be pointed out that when explaining a behavior feature (such as the behavior in the topic) from the perspective of neuroscience, if you want to discuss it clearly, you still need to study it from the individual's point of view. This is just an example. For example, it is found that some people with ASD may have too many local brain connections. For example, the inferior frontal occipital bundle and inferior longitudinal bundle of the brain in the famous process of autism are much wider than ordinary people, and these two fiber bundles are related to visual function. In this regard, Temple has a strong visual thinking ability.
References: 1. Analysis of Application Behavior of Special Children, Peking University Publishing House, edited by Li Fang, Li Dan 2.DSM5.
3. "Brain Connection and Hyperfunctional Autism", Review of Neuroscience and Biological Behavior.
4. The Brain of Art: Thinking across Spectrum, the author's autistic process, translated by Richard Panek and Yan Yuan, Huaxia Publishing House.
In addition, the research on ASD from the perspective of neuroscience can be found in @ This is not Tina's column:
Author: Tony Hu
Source: Zhihu.