The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum (30 page)

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   a neurotransmitter:
http://www.utexas.edu/research/asrec/dopamine.html
.

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a study published in 2010: Kenneth D. Gadow et al., “Parent-Child DRD4 Genotype as a Potential Biomarker for Oppositional, Anxiety, and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder,”
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
34, no. 7 (October 1, 2010): 1208–14.

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   think to ask: J. Belsky et al., “Vulnerability Genes or Plasticity Genes?”
Molecular Psychiatry
14, no. 8 (August 2009): 746–54.

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“orchid children”: W. Thomas Boyce and Bruce J. Ellis, “Biological Sensitivity to Context: I. An Evolutionary–Developmental Theory of the Origins and Functions of Stress Reactivity,”
Development and Psychopathology
17, no. 2 (June 1, 2005): 271–301.

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   “We must recollect”: Sigmund Freud, “On Narcissism: An Introduction,” in
The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud,
vol. 14 (London: Hogarth Press, 1957).

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“The deficiencies”: Sigmund Freud, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” in
The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud,
vol. 18 (London: Hogarth Press, 1955).

4. Hiding and Seeking

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   a 2011 review article: Elysa Jill Marco et al., “Sensory Processing in Autism: A Review of Neurophysiologic Findings,”
Pediatric Research
69, no. 5, pt. 2 (May 2011): 48R–54R.

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   one 2009 study: Laura Crane et al., “Sensory Processing in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders,”
Autism
13, no. 3 (May 2009): 215–28.

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   another study that same year: Lisa D. Wiggins et al., “Brief Report: Sensory Abnormalities as Distinguishing Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorders in Young Children,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
39 (2009): 1087–91.

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   big scholarly book: David Amaral et al., eds.,
Autism Spectrum Disorders
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

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   “like someone is drilling”:
http://www.autismsouthafrica.org/virtuallibrary.htm
. “Asperger adults describe their experience of sensory overload.”

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   published a paper: A. E. Lane et al., “Sensory Processing Subtypes in Autism: Association with Adaptive Behavior,”
Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders
40, no. 1 (January 2010): 112–22.

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   article in
Physical Therapy:
Anjana N. Bhat, “Current Perspectives on Motor Functioning in Infants, Children, and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders,”
Physical Therapy
91, no. 7 (July 2011): 1116–29.

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   his book: Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay,
How Can I Talk If My Lips Don’t Move: Inside My Autistic Mind
(New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008).

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   her 2012 book: Arthur Fleischmann and Carly Fleischmann,
Carly’s Voice: Breaking Through Autism
(New York: Touchstone, 2012).

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   One paper, published: Henry Markram, “The Intense World Syndrome—an Alternative Hypothesis for Autism,”
Frontiers in Neuroscience
1, no. 1 (2007): 77–96.

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Another paper: B. Gepner and F. Féron, “Autism: A World Changing Too Fast for a Mis-Wired Brain?,”
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
33, no. 8 (September 2009): 1227–42.

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   Which is not to say: Temple Grandin, “Visual Abilities and Sensory Differences in a Person with Autism,”
Biological Psychiatry
65 (2009): 15–16.

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   “Light refraction”: Donna Williams,
Autism: An Inside-Out Approach
(London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1996).

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“Picasso vision”:
http://www.autismathomeseries.com/library/2009/08/inside-the-mind-of-sensory-overload/
.

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   “I can’t tolerate”:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4758182.html&highlight=
.

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“You may have to”:
http://thewildeman2.hubpages.com/hub/Autistic-Sensory-Overload
.

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A 2003 study: Nathalie Boddaert et al., “Perception of Complex Sounds: Abnormal Pattern of Cortical Activation in Autism,”
American Journal of Psychiatry
160, no. 11 (2003): 2057–60.

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   a 2012 fMRI study: Sandra Sanchez, “Functional Connectivity of Sensory Systems in Autism Spectrum Disorders: An fcMRI study of Audio-Visual Processing” (PhD diss., San Diego State University, 2011).

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have long noted: See, for example, I. Molnar-Szakacs and P. Heaton, “Music: A Unique Window into the World of Autism
,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
1252 (April 2012): 318–24.

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In a 2012 study: Grace Lai et al., “Neural Systems for Speech and Song in Autism,”
Brain
135, no. 3 (March 2012): 961–75.

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   A 2005 study: R. S. Kaplan and A. L. Steele, “An Analysis of Music Therapy Program Goals and Outcomes for Clients with Diagnoses on the Autism Spectrum,”
Journal of Music Therapy
42, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 2–19.

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   a 2010 paper: Catherine Y. Wan and Gottfried Schlaug, “Neural Pathways for Language in Autism: The Potential for Music-Based Treatments,”
Future Neurology
5, no. 6 (2010): 797–805.

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   a proof-of-concept study: Catherine Y. Wan et al., “Auditory-Motor Mapping Training as an Intervention to Facilitate Speech Output in Non-Verbal Children with Autism: A Proof of Concept Study,”
PLoS ONE
6, no. 9 (2011): e25505, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025505.

5. Looking Past the Labels

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   A 2011 article: Lizzie Buchen, “Scientists and Autism: When Geeks Meet,”
Nature
479 (November 2011): 25–27.

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   autism-spectrum quotient questionnaire: Simon Baron-Cohen et al., “The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
31 (2001): 5–17.

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   common in people with autism: T. Buie et al., “Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders in Individuals with ASDs: A Consensus Report, ”
Pediatrics
125, supplement 1 (January 2010): S1–18.

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   “One of the curses”: David R. Simmons et al., “Vision in Autism Spectrum Disorders,”
Vision Research
49 (2009): 2705–39.

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   In a 2010 presentation:
http://iacc.hhs.gov/events/2010/slides_susan_swedo_043010.pdf
.

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   researchers have shown: See, for example, K. K. Chadman, “Fluoxetine but Not Risperidone Increases Sociability in the BTBR Mouse Model of Autism,”
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
97, no. 3 (January 2011): 586–94.

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   A 2011 paper: Laura Pina-Camacho et al., “Autism Spectrum Disorder: Does Neuroimaging Support the
DSM-5
Proposal for a Symptom Dyad? A Systematic Review of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Diffusion Tensor Imaging Studies,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
42, no. 7 (July 2012): 1326–41.

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   intermittent explosive disorder: See, for example, Emil F. Coccaro, “Intermittent Explosive Disorder as a Disorder of Impulsive Aggression for
DSM-5,
”
American Journal of Psychiatry
169 (June 2012): 577–88.

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   A later study: M. Huerta et al., “Application of
DSM-5
Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder to Three Samples of Children with
DSM-IV
Diagnoses of Pervasive Developmental Disorders,”
American Journal of Psychiatry
10 (October 2012): 1056–64.

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   A 2010 article: Judith S. Verhoeven et al., “Neuroimaging of Autism,”
Neuroradiology
52, no. 1 (2010): 3–14.

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In a 2012 article: Matthew W. State and Nenad Šestan, “The Emerging Biology of Autism Spectrum Disorders,”

6. Knowing Your Own Strengths

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   According to Laurent Mottron: Laurent Mottron, “Changing Perceptions: The Power of Autism,”
Nature
479 (November 2011): 33–35.

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   A 2009 report: Grant K. Plaisted and G. Davis, “Perception and Apperception in Autism: Rejecting the Inverse Assumption,”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
364, no. 1522 (May 2009): 1393–98.

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   designed a study: M. Dawson et al., “The Level and Nature of Autistic Intelligence,”
Psychological Science
18, no. 8 (August 2007): 647–62.

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   “Scientists working in autism”: David Wolman, “The Autie Advantage,”
New Scientist
206 (April 2010): 32–35.

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   “Would you like”: Madhusree Mukerjee, “A Transparent Enigma,”
Scientific American,
June 2004.

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   “When a person with autism”: Virginia Hughes, “Autism Often Accompanied by ‘Super Vision,’ Studies Find,” Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, February 12, 2009,
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2009/autism-often-accompanied-by-super-vision-studies-find
.

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A landmark study: Tim Langdell, “Recognition of Faces: An Approach to the Study of Autism,”
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
19, no. 3 (July 1978): 255–68.

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   Studies have repeatedly: See, for example, P. Murphy et al., “Perception of Biological Motion in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder,”
Perception 37 ECVP Abstract Supplement
(2008): 113; Evelien Nackaerts, “Recognizing Biological Motion and Emotions from Point-Light Displays in Autism Spectrum Disorders,”
PLoS ONE
7, no. 9 (September 2012): e44473, PMID 22970227, PMCID PMC3435310.

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   series of studies: See, for example, R. P. Hobson, “The Autistic Child’s Appraisal of Expressions of Emotion,”
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
27 (1986): 321–42.

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   Research has also shown: See, for example, Michael S. Gaffrey et al., “Atypical Participation of Visual Cortex During Word Processing in Autism: An fMRI Study of Semantic Decision,”
Neuropsychologia
45, no. 8 (April 9, 2007): 1672–84; R. K. Kana et al., “Sentence Comprehension in Autism: Thinking in Pictures with Decreased Functional Connectivity,”
Brain
129, no. 9 (September 2006): 2484–93.

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   An fMRI study in 2008: B. Keehn et al., “Functional Brain Organization for Visual Search in ASD,”
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
14, no. 6 (2008): 990–1003.

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   “Dawson’s keen viewpoint”: Mottron, “Changing Perceptions.”

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   I’ve often said: See, for example, Temple Grandin, “My Mind Is a Web Browser: How People with Autism Think,”
Cerebrum
2, no. 1 (Winter 2000): 14–22.

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   A 1981 study: Lisa D. Wiggins et al., “Brief Report: Sensory Abnormalities as Distinguishing Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorders in Young Children,”
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
39 (2009): 1087–91.

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In a 2006 study: D. L. Williams et al., “The Profile of Memory Function in Children with Autism,”
Neuropsychology
20, no. 1 (January 2006): 21–29.

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   The most recent: Motomi Toichi and Yoko Kamio, “Long-Term Memory and Levels-of-Processing in Autism,”
Neuropsychologia
40 (2002): 964–69.

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   Whole-genome studies: Liam S. Carroll and Michael J. Owen, “Genetic Overlap Between Autism, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder,”
Genome Medicine
1 (2009): 102.1–102.7.

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highly creative people: S. H. Carson, “Creativity and Psychopathology: A Shared Vulnerability Model,”
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
56, no. 3 (March 2011): 144–53.

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   In his book: John Elder Robison,
Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian
(New York: Crown, 2011).

7. Rethinking in Pictures

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   writing a paper: Temple Grandin, “My Experiences as an Autistic Child and Review of Selected Literature,”
Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry
13, no. 3 (1982): 144–74.

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   only a hypothesis: See, for example, Temple Grandin, “How Does Visual Thinking Work in the Mind of a Person with Autism? A Personal Account,”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
364 (2009): 1437–42.

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   advance copy of a book: Clara Claiborne Park,
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism
(New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2001).

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   my friend Jennifer: Jennifer McIlwee Myers interview.

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   The reigning champion: Jennifer Kahn, “The Extreme Sport of Origami,”
Discover,
July 2006.

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   published his book: Daniel Tammet,
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
(New York: Free Press, 2007).

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I found an interview: Philip Bethge, “Who Needs Berlitz? British Savant Learns German in a Week,”
Der Spiegel,
May 3, 2009.

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   studied the patterns: See, for example, Clifton Callender et al., “Generalized Voice-Leading Spaces,”
Science
320 (April 18, 2008): 346–48.

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study classical music: Davide Castelvecchi, “The Shape of Beethoven’s Ninth,”
Science News
173, no. 17 (May 24, 2008): 13.

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   physicists compared: J. L. Aragón et al., “Turbulent Luminance in Impassioned van Gogh Paintings,”
Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision
30, no. 3 (March 2008): 275–83.