Autism - Page 5 of 5

What is empathy?

Some of the most striking discoveries in psychology have come from patients with deficits of various kinds.

Some of the most striking discoveries in psychology have come from patients with deficits of various kinds. Phineas Gage, one of the most famous patients in psychology, was thought to have suffered emotional blunting – along with personality changes – after a tamping rod was propelled through his frontal lobes. Less dramatically, but no less vitally, it seems highly probable that common psychological disorders have, at their heart, a problem processing emotions. Two examples are alexithymia and autism spectrum disorders, both of which seem to involve problems with empathising. But what is empathy?

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A Process Model of Appraisal

Appraisal theory posits that our emotions are generated through an evaluation of particular types of information that are relevant to us.

[Photo by zen]

Recently I’ve been looking at the causes of emotions as suggested by appraisal theory. Very briefly, this theory posits that our emotions are generated through an evaluation of particular types of information that are relevant to us. But what does ‘evaluation’ mean and how does this occur?

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Daniel Tammet, The Boy With The Incredible Brain

Having now seen the excellent documentary on the autistic savant, Daniel Tammet, and noting the subject’s popularity, I’ve done a little Googling to get some more information for you…

This is the BBC News report of Daniel Tammet’s attempt at the British and European record for reciting pi. He is able to remember 22,511 decimal places of pi without using any special memory techniques.

‘The Savant Syndrome’ provides more background information on autistic savants. The article is by Dr. Darold Treffert who is widely published on this subject and was a consultant to the movie Rain Man. More on other autistic savants at Wikipedia.

New York Times review of the documentary.
Science Channel ‘Brainman’ site [contains extra video not in programme]

Autistic savant explains his incredible abilities

“Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism.”

→ From The Guardian

Parents of person with Asperger’s lost hope

Suicide, actual and suspected, has been in the news all week. The story of Bill and Wendy Ainscow is similarly tragic. Their daughter has Asperger syndrome, a type of autism normally situated at the less severe end of the spectrum.

Asperger’s typically manifests itself in a difficulty communicating, problems forming and maintaining relationships and a lack of imagination. In many cases it is possible to live a relatively normal and fruitful life with this condition. The circumstances of this family however were different.

> From The Independent