Kamila and Henry Markram of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have developed a theory that autism is caused by a “supercharged” brain, today’s Telegraph reports. The Markrams posit that autistic individuals—far from earlier notions that they were without emotions and the capacity to feel—-”‘perceive, feel and remember too much’” and very intensely:
Faced with this “intense world”, autistic infants withdraw, with serious consequences for their social and linguistic development, she added.
Repetitive behaviours such as rocking and head-banging, meanwhile, can be seen as an attempt to bring order and predictability to a “blaring world”.
Most of the theories surrounding autism …read more