BS 181 Sir Simon Baron-Cohen

This month's episode of Brain Science features
Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, one of the world's leading researchers on
the neuroscience of autism. We discuss his latest book "The
Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention." This
book reminds us that many different kinds of science can enrich
our lives and our understanding of what it means to be human.


Sir Baron-Cohen explores the overlap between the human ability to
invent and experiment and the condition that is currently called
autism. Autism is often seen as a deficit in social cognition or
empathy, but Baron-Cohen shows convincingly that there is a
significant overlap between autism and what he calls extreme
systemizing. Because systemizing or pattern recognition drives
the human ability to constantly invent new technologies, it
appears to compliment social skills such as empathy.


 


Sir Baron-Cohen share the evidence that people tend to be
stronger in one area or the other. Most importantly, he
emphasizes that autism is not necessarily a disabling condition
because those with extremely strong pattern recognition skills
can make many valuable contributions.


Links and References:


The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention by
Simon Baron-Cohen



Greenberg DM, Warrier V, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S. Testing
the Empathizing-Systemizing theory of sex differences and the
Extreme Male Brain theory of autism in half a million people.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Nov
27;115(48):12152-12157. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1811032115. Epub
2018 Nov 12. PMID: 30420503; PMCID: PMC6275492.


Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD. University of Cambridge (UK)

Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additonal
references and episode transcripts.



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