10.2 Explanations for autism

Question 1

Who proposed that autism was caused by the personalities of the parent of the child, in particular, cold rigid parents?

Answer 1

Kanner (1943)

Question 2

Who furthered the idea of the cold parenting theory?

Answer 2

Bettleheim.

Question 3

According to Bettleheim, a child me fail to develop autonomy (the sense that you can have an effect on the environment) because of three stages? ( cold parenting theory)

Answer 3

1. The child feels unwanted. This leads to..
2. The child limits behaviour in his/her own world. This leads to..
3. Impaired social interaction and autism.

Question 4

A negative of the cold parenting theory?

Answer 4

• There is no real evidence.

- Discussing this theory with parents may be hurtful.

Question 5

A positive to the cold parenting theory?

Answer 5

Bettleheim has had some success with treatment for autism in his school.

Question 6

What are the two biological explanations for autism?

Answer 6

• Neurological correlates.

- Genetics.

Question 7

What does the neurological correlates theory propose?

Answer 7

That autistic individuals have one or more abnormalities with the brain.

Question 8

The areas of the brain which have structure abnormalities appear to correlate with those areas responsible for the development of normal communication, social functioning and play. Which theory is this evidence for?

Answer 8

Neurological correlates.

Question 9

(NC) Early research into the brain included which type of studies?

Answer 9

Post mortem studies.

Question 10

(NC) What are 2 problems with post mortem studies?

Answer 10

• Most post mortem studies have been on adult autistic brains, abnormalities in the brain could have been due to other life injuries of traumas.
• It cannot be concluded whether the brain abnormalities are the cause of autism, or if autism causes these brain abnormalities. We cannot establish cause and effect.

Question 11

(NC) The three major NEUROIMAGING techniques used are?

Answer 11

• PET scan.
• SPECT.
• MRI scan.

Question 12

(NC) How do they obtain PET images?

Answer 12

Glucose is injected into the bloodstream, containing radioactive isotopes. Sensors in the PET scanner detect these radioactive isotopes as they are used in different parts of the brain.

Question 13

(NC) Why is PET scan limited to its use in children?

Answer 13

Because it would need a lot of blood samples, and uses radioactive isotopes. SPECT is used instead.

Question 14

(NC) What is the preferred method of neuroimaging in children? And why? And what does it use?

Answer 14

MRI scan, as there is no radiation effect. MRI uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce 3D images of the brain structure.

Question 15

(NC) Which is the most advanced neuroimaging technique and can obtain the most sensitive observations?

Answer 15

MRI scan.

Question 16

(NC) Why can comparison be difficult in neuroimaging samples?

Answer 16

Factors such as age, gender, IQ can differ between the samples.

Question 17

(G) WHat has genetic research shown us about autism?

Answer 17

If one member of the family is autistic, there is an increased chance of another family member developing it.

Question 18

(G) If one child is autistic, how many more times likely is it for another child to develop autism? What is the difference between this and a child without autism?

Answer 18

3-6% of another child developing autism.

10 times higher than the risk for a normal child.

Question 19

(G) Is autism more likely in girls or boys? Which theory does this support?

Answer 19

Boys (A ratio of 4:1 between boys and girls with autism).

This supports genetic influence.

Question 20

(G) Research has shown concordance rates from MZ twins to be as high as 90%, and lower in DZ twins. WHat des concordance rates mean? and Why does MZ twins support the genetic theory?

Answer 20

• Concordance means ‘agreement between’ the extent to which a pair of twins share similar characteristics or traits (in this case, autism).
• This supports the genetic theory, as MZ twins are identical and share the same genetic makeup.

Question 21

(G) One negative to the genetic theory?

Answer 21

Both autism and MZ twins are relatively rare. Therefore the number of pairs researched are low. This causes difficulty in concordance rates, as they can be effected easily.

Question 22

(C) What are the three cognitive explanations of autism?

Answer 22

• Lack of theory of mind.
• Central coherence deficit.
• Impaired executive functioning.

Question 23

(C) What is theory of mind?

Answer 23

Theory of mind is an understanding of how the mind works, the knowledge that other people can have a different belief to you.

Question 24

(C) What did Baron-Cohen (1985) find that autistic children were less able to do?

Answer 24

See the world from another person’s point of view. He used the term ‘mind blindness’.

Question 25

Sally’s box was an experiment to show which explanation of autism, who was this experiment carried out by?

Answer 25

Sally’s box showed lack of theory of mind, as they could not answer the question as to where Sally would look for the marbles, showing that they cannot understand someone else’s thoughts were different to their own. Carried out by baron-Cohen.

Question 26

What was the Smarties experiment investigating?

Answer 26

Investigating false belief in children.

Question 27

What were the results of the Smarties tube experiment?

Answer 27

Four year old children could correctly answer the Smarties question however three year olds could not. The majority of autistic children reported that friend would think there is a pencil in the Smarties box, only one third of autistic children were able to apply face belief for the others.

Question 28

What is a negative of the Smarties experiment?

Answer 28

The wording of the question was found to be difficult, when repeated with different wording of what their friend would think was in the box before it was opened, autistic children as young as three could succeed on the task.

Question 29

What explanation of autism are comicstrip stories for?

Answer 29

Lack of theory of mind.

Question 30

What were the three types of stories in the comic strips stories experiment, and which one did autistic children have difficulty with?

Answer 30

1.mechanical story – action in the story did not involve any people.
2. A behavioural story – did include people that do not require any understanding of what the people were thinking.
Autistic children have difficulty with the mentalistic story. They had no problems with the other stories.
3. A mentalistic story – required an understanding of what the people are thinking.

Question 31

What is central coherence?

Answer 31

Central coherence is a tendency humans possess to process information from general meaning rather than focusing on individual elements. For example we remember the gist of a message rather than each individual word.

Question 32

What does Frith accord about central coherence deficit in children with autism?

Answer 32

The capacity for processing of general meaning rather than focusing on individual elements is diminished in the child with autism.

Question 33

What can theory of impairs central coherence account for two things?

Answer 33

1. account for the way autistic individuals focus on details rather than global meaning, for example autistic individuals excel in carrying out embedded figure test.
2. Individuals with autism are more accurate at interpreting visual illusions, as they do not process it in the same top-down way that leads to the illusion.

Question 34

Is processing information as a whole strong central coherence or weak central coherence?

Answer 34

Processing information as a whole is strong central coherence. Individual elements is weak central coherence.

Question 35

What does head executive functioning account for an autistic children, compared to usual executive functioning?

Answer 35

Executive functioning is needed to process higher level processes, for example multitasking. Autistic individuals often have difficulty with these tasks and spend their life in routine and have difficulty with change. Impaired as executive functioning is A theory to explain this.

Question 36

What is so Wisconsin card sorting task an experiment to show in the executive functioning?

Answer 36

This is a set of cards which can be sorted according to coloursafe number. The individual chooses the sorting task. The sorting task is then changed unknown to the sorter. People with good executive functioning can notice the change and quickly switch to the new task. Autistic individuals cannot do this, this shows a control system – executive functioning – appears to be malfunctioning.