Is Brain Difference in General the Cause of Autism?

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AS is caused by... Aspartame.

this is the latest known theory.

Could the cause of autism be right under our nose?

People keep searching for some specific thing to be the cause of autism. What if its just difference, not a specific difference but any difference in brain function?

Not that anybody who is "different" would present with a diagnosis, it would only happen at a certain level of accumulated difference, but it makes sense that any different perception of the world will cause some trouble communicating with and understanding other people.

An implication of this would be that family life and culture would have a major impact. Since family is the first people you relate to the greater the brain difference with family the more severe autism would be. Since cultural norms influence genetics over time(the more an individual "deviates" the less chance of reproduction) a brain that works differently from the average person in a given society might work more similarly to brains in another society. This would also vary according to how much tolerance there is(not just in word but in practice) in a given culture. The more tolerant a culture the less the severity(and perhaps recorded incidence) of autism.

Another implication would be that exposing your child to a wide range of different people could reduce the severity(potentially to the point of leaving the spectrum as defined by psychology)

Further implication is that there are likely cultures out there where we would acclimate faster than neurotypicals(and might have been neurotypical if we had grown up in them).

Yep. Genetics.

cultural norms influence genetics over time' ??? That's interesting evolutionary theory, but there is absolutely no evidence to back it up

Yep. Genetics.

No. Like I said it would have to be a certain level. Psychology has formed official criteria that must be met for a diagnosis and through their work created a certain "threshhold" where it gets diagnosed. That someone doesn't have autism doesn't mean their brain doesn't have a different chemistry that if exaggerated enough would have presented as autism.

Considering the sheer complexity of social interaction I can't think of a single aspect of cognition that would not play into it somehow. Also, people who are different from each other just as a rule have trouble getting to know and understand each other. If you're more different from people than average no matter what the reason you'll have more trouble socializing with them and so it makes sense this would cause social skills to be learned slower.



There is inductive evidence. It's proven that if you don't reproduce you don't pass on your DNA. It's been proven that genes influence personality and way of thinking. Culture involves shared aspects of personality and way of thinking throughout a society. People in a culture whose personality and way of thinking are more different are more likely to be alienated or outcast and that dwindles the prospects of reproduction, making them less likely to pass on DNA. So it logically follows that if a cultural norm stays consistent over time those who have DNA that increases the odds of them visibly going against the norm will have reduced reproductive success and hence the DNA responsible would decrease. Similarly, DNA leading to more behavior conforming to the cultural norm would enhance reproductive success, causing that piece of DNA to become more expressed within the population.



Who said anything about children? Adults are autistic too. I've read up on foreign cultures. I think Latin America might be a good fit for me once I get to know Spanish better and have thought about moving there.



That actually helps my point. We're all different. And considering the differences between our culture and Asia's, with Asian languages showing evidence of more visual thinking and in the United States and other countries with alphabetic languages more verbal thinking it makes sense that to many Americans on the spectrum Asia looks inviting. I don't know, but I bet if investigated we'd find high-functioning autistics in Asia think they would be more at home in America.



As time goes on I've found "anxiety attacks" came from the feelings of alienation and are dying down as I learn to stop caring.

Just because the brain is wired differently doesn't mean every single symptom is part of the wiring. There are common factors in the world nearly every single person gets exposed to, and the wiring may dictate the person's reaction to these factors. Almost everyone in the world cares what other people think of them. When we do that it causes anxiety attacks because it's harder for us to guess what other people are thinking of us, so I've learned not to care. I still socialize, in fact it's become a lot easier, I just accept that people will love me or hate me and don't care about it. Of course there's also sensory issues that can play into this for many people.

Just to be clear... I posted that in a joking thread. I'm in enough hot water already.