Autism Spectrum Analysis

Background Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests (Ward, 2012). Since there is a range of symptoms that may be present among certain individuals and not others, the DSM-V calls this disorder autism spectrum disorder. The characteristics of autism according to Ward (2012) are a deficit in the ability to represent mental states and an executive dysfunction, among others. In addition, there are various hypotheses on the etiology and causes of autism spectrum disorder. As a result, numerous studies have been conducted to obtain a deeper understanding of the disorder.

This has been observed by Baron-Cohen et al. (1985) when they tested children with false belief tasks, such as the Sally-Anne test and the Smarties test. Baron-Cohen and colleagues found that normally developing children tend to pass these tests at around the age of 4. However, children developing with autism are unable to pass the false-belief tasks, because they are unable to represent the mental states of others. Another characteristic of autism is a deficit in executive function (Ward, 2012). According to Ward (2012), executive functioning is the ability to control processes that are needed to coordinate the operation of more specialized component of the brain, allowing us to engage in normal cognitive processes such as developing novel solutions, including inhibiting familiar solutions. Children with autism are believed by other researchers to have an executive dysfunction, which may explain the failure of false-belief tasks. Thus, a plausible explanation for why children with autism fail false-belief tasks is that they are unable to inhibit familiar solutions (i.e. what they believe as opposed to what another person would believe) (Ward, 2012). Therefore, characteristics of autism are typically an inability to represent mental states and an executive dysfunction. However, it is important to note that these are not the only characteristics

One theory of the causes of autism is Baron-Cohen’s (2002) extreme male brain theory. Baron-Cohen suggests that males have a brain type that is predisposed to systemizing more than empathizing. Deficits in empathy is also thought to be a characteristic of autism (Ward, 2012). The extreme male brain theory then posits that individuals with autism have an extreme male brain type that results in an inability to be empathic (Baron-Cohen, 2002). Another theory that attempts to explain the causes of autism is the broken mirror theory of autism (Ward, 2012). Imitation is a behaviour that requires mental representations as well as executive functioning. Imitation is also linked to empathy in that it is a milder version of empathy. Thus, it is thought that a dysfunction in the mirror system may be responsible for certain inabilities among those with autism. For example, Hadjikhani, Joseph, Snyder, and Tager-Flusberg (2006) found that areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and the superior temporal sulcus are dysfunctional among individuals with autism. Furthermore, the amygdala sends information to the anterior insula and other brain regions responsible for normal cognitive and social interactive behaviours. Studies by Baron-Cohen et al. (1999) used fMRI to study healthy and autistic brains, observing that a