Ableism

Ableism refers to systemic discrimination and prejudice against individuals with disabilities, including autism, often manifesting through societal norms, policies, and practices that marginalize and devalue their experiences and abilities.

PlainSpeak: Ableism is when people with disabilities, like autism, are treated unfairly or seen as less capable, because of biased attitudes and rules in society.

Most Posts on [Ableism]

Mental Time Travel

The concept of mental time travel (MTT) refers to our ability to mentally project themselves backward in time to relive or remember past events, as well as forward in time to imagine or anticipate future events. It is a cognitive process that allows us to mentally simulate and navigate through temporal experiences beyond the present moment.

The MTT Task

The MTT task is a neuroscience measure designed to assess an individual's capacity for mental time travel. Participants are presented with event cues, such as "graduation" or "vacation," and asked to recall a specific past event or imagine a specific future event related to each cue. This task distinguishes between personal events, which are specific episodic memories from one's own life, and general events, which are more abstract and can be shared by multiple people, such as public holidays or significant historical moments. In this task, the individual's present moment serves as a reference point from which they situate and retrieve personal versus general events. 

The MTT task has been used in research to investigate individual differences in the capacity for mental time travel and how it relates to various cognitive processes, such as autobiographical memory, imagination, planning, and self-projection. It has also been employed to examine the effects of aging, neurodegenerative diseases, and psychiatric disorders on mental time travel abilities.

Cognitive Processes and Neural Mechanisms

MTT involves several cognitive processes, including memory recall, imagination, and prospective thinking. Neuroimaging studies reveal that MTT engages a network of brain regions which include.

  • Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). Involved in cognitive control and executive functions, critical for retrieving and manipulating temporal information.
  • Hippocampus and Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL). Essential for the formation and retrieval of episodic memories, these areas help us construct detailed, context-rich memories and future scenarios.

MTT and Autism: A Research Frontier

Studies have shown that individuals with autism may exhibit differences in episodic memory and future-oriented thinking, which are key components of MTT.

For example, research suggests that some autistics may have difficulty recalling specific personal events and constructing detailed future scenarios, possibly due to challenges in episodic memory retrieval and imagination . However, the variability within the autism spectrum means that these experiences can differ widely among individuals.

Investigating MTT in autism could provide valuable insights into how autistics perceive and engage with time-related cognitive processes. Future studies could explore,

  • Episodic Memory Retrieval: Understanding how autistics recall personal versus general events.
  • Imagination and Future Planning: Examining the ability to construct detailed and plausible future scenarios.
  • Neural Correlates: Using neuroimaging to explore the brain regions involved in MTT and how they may differ in  autism.
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References
Lind, S. E., & Bowler, D. M. (2010). Episodic memory and episodic future thinking in adults with autism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(4), 896–905. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020631

Creativity is the bridge between art and science

Towards a more Humane Society. Contemplation one line a day. #MentalHealth.
 

If you know everything, you are not learning

 Something Professor Carissa Cascio shared with the lab today. So appropriate. 


Also accompanied by a message encouraging us to "be confident in asking questions and not worried about what they don't know. If you already know everything, you're not learning!"

Thank you for this assurance cuz my rather atypical educational path leaves me wondering (more often than not) if there are things I have missed out (through the typical NT education path,  NT social experiences/interactions/networking) which is now maybe impacting my knowledge and work. 



Media Mention

 

The need for global solutions. Disability is not an american phenomena.



Creativity is the language of the heart

Towards a more Humane Society. Contemplation one line a day. #MentalHealth.

 

Severe Weather Nashville - Spring Edition

Nashville sure has a lot of severe weather alerts.
This is a running tab for Spring Mar 30- Jun 20
(see here for winter)




Neuro-verse

Neuro-verse

My mind sings verses that caress the senses, transforming my world into a synesthetic tapestry of words.
My brain, a maestro of emotions, conducts a raaga of imagery, metaphor, and laya, serenading the sensory symphony with poetic canvas.

Neurotransmitters thread words with grace, enchanting the sensory realm with refrains that waltz through the mind like melodic raagas.
Neurons engage in taal, harmonizing synapses with the hues of perception, painting poetry that captivates the optic cortex and cochlear nerve.

Dynamic neuroplasticity conducts a jugalbandi of words that sculpts multidimensional space, leaving the synapses swaying to the rhythm of words.
Neural artistry entwines poetry and swara, every ERP, illuminating kaleidoscopic realms.


from Indian Classical Music: Raaga (musical scale), Laya (rhythm), Taal (beat), Swara (musical note), 
Jugalbandi (collaborative improvisation).
ERP: Event Related Potential -   neuroscience measure (using EEG) to assess the electrical activity of the brain in response to specific events or stimuli.


Kindness is not a weakness its a superpower

Creativity is the ultimate form of self expression

 


Towards a more Humane Society. Contemplation one line a day. #MentalHealth.

CATI - Comprehensive Autism Trait Inventory

 

  • The Comprehensive Autism Trait Inventory (CATI) is a new measure of autistic traits that reflects our current understanding of autism and includes subscales for social camouflage and sensory sensitivity.
  • The 42 items are divided into 6 subscales of "Social Interactions,” “Communication,” "Social Camouflage,” "Cognitive Rigidity,” "Repetitive Behaviours,” and "Sensory Sensitivity” (each with 7 items).
  • It is free to use. 
[Related Posts on CATI]

Psychometrics
  • (English et al., 2021is a first validation paper that has included 3 separate studies.
    • The CATI showed convergent validity and superior internal reliability compared to existing measures like the AQ and BAPQ
    • The CATI provides a comprehensive assessment of trait dimensions associated with autism, potentially eliminating the need for multiple measures, and has the potential to improve research on autistic traits in the general population.
The English et al (2021) article discusses the need for a new measure of autistic traits that reflects our current understanding of autism. The article describes the development and validation of the CATI, comparing it to existing measures such as the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ). The CATI demonstrates convergent validity, superior internal reliability, and greater predictive ability for classifying autism compared to the other measures. It is also the first measure to have dedicated subscales for social camouflage and sensory sensitivity. The authors conclude that the CATI provides a reliable and comprehensive assessment of autistic traits, addressing the limitations of existing measures
  • (Meng & Xuan, 2023) - A Mandarin Chinese translation of CATI that was recently validated (although only 35 of the 42 items made it into that version, likely due to issues with the model fit of the translated measure). The Chinese group also derived a 24-item short form of the Chinese CATI which appears to have good psychometrics as well. 
References
English, M.C.W., Gignac, G.E., Visser, T.A.W. et al. The Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI): development and validation of a new measure of autistic traits in the general population. Molecular Autism 12, 37 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-021-00445-7

Meng F, Xuan B. Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 Jun 15;16:2213-2223. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S411599. PMID: 37342828; PMCID: PMC10278863.