T10 - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Question 1

Diagnosing ASD:

- 2 core symptoms

Answer 1

To warrant a diagnosis of ASD according to the DSM-V, the individual would have to display criteria A and B:
o A: persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across contexts, not accounted for by general developmental delays; and
o B: restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities. For the first time sensory difficulties; hypo or hypersensitivity to aspects of the environment, is explicitly included in diagnostic criteria under criteria

Question 2

Biological Theories of ASD: (5)

• Extreme Male brain
• Amygdala Syndrome
• Mirror Neuron Dysfunction
• Default mode network failure
• Neural connectivity

Answer 2

Biological:
1. Extreme Male Brain:
- Postulates that ASD is caused by foetal testosterone exposure
- If you get exposed to foetal testosterone, it increases your maleness, makes you think
systematically and therefore have a greater likelihood of being autistic
- Limited evidence

2. Amygdala Syndrome:
   - Argued that the amygdala in people with autism is enlarged - Therefore becoming more emotional
3. Mirror Neuron Dysfunction:
   - Neuron fires when observing another perform the same action
   - Seeing is doing – at least it is when mirror neurons are working normally. But in autistic
   individuals, say researchers, the brain circuits that enable people to perceive and understand
   the actions of others do not behave in the usual way.
4. Default Mode Network Failure:
   - Default mode network is how your brain thinks while you are at rest
   - Thought that people with autism had a failure of the default mode network
5. Neural Connectivity:
   - Proposed that autism could be a case of really a failure of neural connectivity, both at a large scale and at a small scale

Question 3

Cognitive Theories of ASD: (3)

• Theory of Mind
• Executive Functioning
• Weak Central Coherence

Answer 3

1. Theory of Mind:
   - To be able to attribute independent mental states to oneself and to others in order to deduce the contents of ones thoughts and therefore predict behaviour
   - It is theorised that individuals with ASD have an impaired ToM, arguing that this is the main cause for communication deficiencies in ASD
2. Executive Functioning:
   - Ability that allows one to maintain an appropriate problem-solving repertoire of component mental-processes with purpose of some future goal-attainment
   - Difficulty maintaining attention
   - Difficulty with complex thinking
   - Difficulty planning their days
3. Weak Central Coherence:
   - Central coherence is a perceptual-conceptual ability that enables one to see the bigger picture and extract the “gist” in information processing
   - While EF accounts for individuals difficulties in cognitive-flexibility and planning, it does not account for their attention to detail, in particular with visuo-spatial abilities
   - Weak Central Coherence is attributed to a poor ability to process information holistically when such is called for, but rather to process information in a fragmented style