Autism: 8 things you did not know about this disorder
Almost the 1% of the child population suffers from autism . Autism alters the person's ability to communicate and engage in social interactions, and is identified by the presence of repetitive behaviors.
8 curiosities and things you did not know about Autism
In this article we will review a total of eight discoveries about this disorder .
1. Geniuses with autism
Leading thinkers, scientists and musicians such as Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Beethoven, Inmanuel Kant and Albert Einstein have been studied by Michael Fitzgerald, British psychiatrist Trinity College of Dublin, who concluded that they all suffered some degree of autism .
2. Skull greater than average
Those affected by autism segregate Higher hormone levels involved in physical growth , like insulin type 1 and type 2 growth factors, compared with people who do not suffer from this disorder.
This peculiarity could explain why the cranial circumference of autistic people is greater, as a recent investigation by Cincinatti University published in Clinical Endocrinology.
3. Indifference to the opinion of others
An investigation of California Institute of Technology notes that a people with autism feel totally indifferent about what others think or think of them . To reach that conclusion, the researchers contrasted the conduct of financial donations for the NGO UNICEF.
It was compared with two different situations: the first when the donor made the donation without any company, and the second when it was observed by another (or other) subjects. Participants without autism donated larger amounts when another person was present, since the amount contributed was perceived as an indicator of their social reputation before others. In the case of people with autism, the amounts contributed did not differ according to the situation. The results were published in the magazine PNAS.
4. Process information more effectively
People with autism have a superior capacity in processing information compared to the general population, a fact that could reveal the surprising percentage of autistic people whose employment is in the high technologies sector , according to several researches carried out in the United Kingdom.
In addition to this better information processing, they are also more proficient at discriminating the fundamental information from the non-essential information. The study was published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
5. The morphology of the autistic face
The face of children suffering from autism has some of its own characteristics, as pointed out in a recent study published in the journal Molecular Autism.
They have their mouths and eyes slightly wider than the average , greater proportion of the front and the middle area of the face (cheeks and nose) subtly smaller.
6. Premature babies
Newborns with low birth weight and premature babies have a probability of 500% of developing autistic disorder than those born at nine months and with average weight, as indicated by a study published in Pediatrics who collected data for more than twenty years.
7. Evolutively positive
Some genes that influence the development of autism could have had an evolutionary efficacy in our ancestors, because provided greater capabilities in visual and spatial intelligence , concentration and memory, skills that allowed greater efficiency in hunter and gatherer individuals.
8. Mirror neurons
Those affected by autism have a greater predisposition to suffer problems in their social relationships , because they have limitations in their ability to show empathy in human interactions. A study that came to light in the magazine Biological Psychiatry revealed that this condition is due to alterations in the system of mirror neurons (those neurons that empower to understand and anticipate the pretensions and reactions of other people), which develop much more slowly than in people without autism.
Extra: Guinea pigs can help people with Autism
Several scientific investigations have reported that l As people with some autism spectrum disorder are benefited by the company of this small rodent .
You can check it by reading this article:
"Guinea pigs have a positive effect on young people with Autism"
