Neurotransmitters Flow in this Autism Mind

Keynote Speaker at Duke

My Keynote for Autism Month at Duke.

Registration at.

https://duke.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrdeqorDIpHdRE-CRvLPHkzKdL_ta7eYq-#/registration

https://globalhealth.duke.edu/events/autism-acceptance-month-keynote-presentation-redefine-table

Autism Acceptance Month Keynote Presentation: "Redefine the Table"

April 3, 2024 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm ET

Zoom Webinar

Please join us for a special event in our 2023-24 Duke Center for Autism Seminar Series! Our Autism Acceptance Month Keynote presenter will be Hari Srinivasan. A self-advocate, Mr. Srinivasan is a PhD student in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, an alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, a NISE fellow at the Frist Center for Autism & Innovation at Vanderbilt University, and a public member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. At UC Berkeley, Mr. Srinivasan majored in psychology with a minor in disability studies and graduated as a University Medal Finalist, along with a Departmental Citation Award, Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, and Psi Chi. He was an undergraduate Haas Scholar and carried out a year-long study on awe and empathy in autism. He was also lead student instructor for a weekly class on autism, creating and teaching content that covered a myriad of issues across the lifespan. As a student journalist at The Daily Californian, he wrote over 50 articles on both disability and non-disability topics. As part of his graduate program, he will research the sensorimotor space, specifically peripersonal space (PPS), which has practical implications on multiple fronts for autism. He has autism and ADHD. His autism includes limited speaking ability, sensorimotor issues, health issues, OCD, mood dysregulation and social anxiety. His non-academic affiliations span law and policy to research arenas such as IACC, DREDF, ASAN, ASA, INSAR, Autism Europe and The Brain Foundation. PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE AT THE LINK PROVIDED.

Speaker(s): Hari Srinivasan

Duke Event Series: Duke Center for Autism Seminar Series

Duke Event Co-Sponsor(s): Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), Duke Institute for Brain Sciences (DIBS)

Duke Event Type(s): Diversity/Inclusion, Lecture/Talk, Webcast

https://autismcenter.duke.edu/events/autism-acceptance-month-2024

Autism Acceptance Month 2024

Our keynote for Autism Acceptance Month 2024 will be Hari Srinivasan, presenting "Redefine the Table."

Our keynote presenter for Autism Acceptance Month 2024 will be Hari Srinivasan. A self-advocate, Mr. Srinivasan is a PhD student in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, an alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, a NISE fellow at the Frist Center for Autism & Innovation at Vanderbilt University, and a public member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee.

At UC Berkeley, Mr. Srinivasan majored in psychology with a minor in disability studies and graduated as a University Medal Finalist, along with a Departmental Citation Award, Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, and Psi Chi. He was an undergraduate Haas Scholar and carried out a year-long study on awe and empathy in autism. He was also lead student instructor for a weekly class on autism, creating and teaching content that covered a myriad of issues across the lifespan. As a student journalist at The Daily Californian, he wrote over 50 articles on both disability and non-disability topics.

As part of his graduate program, he will research the sensorimotor space, specifically peripersonal space (PPS), which has practical implications on multiple fronts for autism. He has autism and ADHD. His autism includes limited speaking ability, sensorimotor issues, health issues, OCD, mood dysregulation and social anxiety. His non-academic affiliations span law and policy to research arenas such as IACC, DREDF, ASAN, ASA, INSAR, Autism Europe and The Brain Foundation.

VR Research Cave

With lab mates from Wallace Lab helping set up the VR immersive environment cave being installed at my research lab.

I'm going to get to use this cool tech in my research design to study sensorimotor issues in autism.

Neurodiversity for Dummies

I'm mentioned on Page 176.

Processing loss and grief is even more intense for autistics.

Another excellent and deep article from Hari Srinivasan about how loneliness, lack of support, disruption in schedules and being the child of immigrants, can make processing loss and grief even more intense for autistic people.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/giving-voice/202402/the-spectrum-of-loss-grief-through-the-autistic-lens

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/giving-voice/202402/the-spectrum-of-loss-grief-through-the-autistic-lens

Understanding Predictive Coding in the Brain

In PlainSpeak for the Lay Reader

Researchers have come up with many theories to try to explain different aspects of thinking and behavior in autism. The Predictive Coding Hypothesis is one such set of explanations.

Understanding Predictive Coding in the Brain

This hypothesis says that the brain acts like a prediction machine, always guessing what's going to happen based on past experiences. For example, if you hear a familiar sound, like a door creaking, your brain might predict that someone is entering the room. When something happens, the brain compares it to what it expected and updates its guesses to be more accurate next time.

Predictive Coding in Autism

Scientists think that the brains of autistic people might process these predictions differently. This could explain some common characteristics of autism, like sensory sensitivities, repetitive behaviors, and social challenges.

Slow Updating Theories

What This Means: Autistic people might update their brain’s predictions more slowly. This means their brain doesn’t adjust as quickly when something new or unexpected happens.

Possible Effects:

Repetitive Behaviors: They might rely more on routines or repetitive actions to cope with the world because it feels more predictable and safe.
Sensory Sensitivities: Because their brain takes longer to adjust, unexpected noises, lights, or touches might feel very intense or overwhelming.
Social Challenges: Social interactions often require quick thinking and adapting, so slow updating might make it harder to understand and react to what others are doing or saying.

Examples of Slow Updating Theories:

Predictive Coding Deficit Theory: Autistic people may have a harder time updating their brain’s predictions with new information, which can make adjusting to changes difficult.
Reduced Sensory Prediction Error Theory: The brain might not be good at noticing when it made a wrong prediction, leading to slower updates and more intense sensory experiences.

High-Precision Theories

What This Means: Autistic people might focus too much on the details of what they sense, giving a lot of importance to every little thing they see, hear, or feel.

Possible Effects:

Sensory Overload: Because they notice so many details, it can become overwhelming and lead to sensory overload.
Literal Thinking: They might take things very literally and have trouble understanding implied meanings or jokes.
Detail-Oriented: They might focus a lot on small details but find it hard to see the bigger picture.

Examples of High-Precision Theories:

Aberrant Precision of Prediction Errors: Autistic people might give too much importance to their senses, leading to strong reactions to things like noise or bright lights.
Increased Sensory Precision Theory: Their brain treats all sensory input as very important, making it hard to ignore unimportant details.
Attenuated Priors Hypothesis: Their brain’s expectations (or “priors”) are weaker, so they rely more on the immediate sensory input, giving it more weight.

Other Theories in Autism

Aberrant Salience Theory: Autistic people might over- or under-estimate the importance of certain things they sense, which can make it hard to focus on what really matters.

Precision of Priors and Prediction Errors: There might be an imbalance in how the brain handles predictions and errors. This could lead to rigid behaviors or heightened sensory responses.

Adaptive Coding Hypothesis: The brain of an autistic person might be tuned differently, focusing on details that others might not notice. This could explain both their strengths, like noticing small details, and challenges, like understanding social cues.

Enhanced Perceptual Functioning Model: Autistic people might be really good at noticing small details but might struggle to see the bigger picture.

Predictive Homeostasis Theory: Autistic people might aim to keep their brain in a balanced state, which could explain why they prefer routines and predictability.

Intense World Theory: The brain of an autistic person might be hyper-sensitive, making the world feel very intense. This might lead to sensory overload and a preference for predictable environments.

Combining Theories

These different theories aren’t mutually exclusive; they can coexist in the same person. For example, someone might experience both slow updating and high precision, leading to a mix of challenges, like sensory overload and a need for routines.

Autism and Abstract Thinking

There’s a stereotype that autistic people can’t think abstractly or see the big picture. This isn’t true for everyone. While some autistic individuals might focus on details, many also excel in areas that require abstract thinking, like art, poetry, and storytelling. These creative activities often involve both concrete details and abstract ideas, showing the diverse cognitive strengths within the autistic community.

Final Thoughts

Understanding how autistic people think and process information is complex, and these theories help provide some explanations. However, it’s important to remember that every autistic person is different, and more research is needed to better understand and support them. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to autism, and each person’s unique experience should be respected.

versions of this post

For the Scientific/Academic Audience

PlainSpeak Plain Language for Lay Reader

A Short Definition

Pi Day 3.14

ADOS-2 Training

ADOS-2 Training Certificate

All humans live in cycle of dependency

https://time.com/6551520/loneliness-autism-essay/

https://www.dailycal.org/2018/04/12/compulsion-complexity

Cognitive dissonance on ADOS

I was in an ADOS training this week. I can kind of get at the intended usefulness of this instrument. Its a screening and diagnostic measure that is widely used for Autism.

But disappointed at a few things that caused a lot of cognitive dissonance for me.

Video of kid who repeated back 2-3 words of one question of the clinician before responding - behavior marked as “echolalia”. But NT folks do this all the time, eg: common tactic in interviews as it buys you time to think. In the NT world this is called "active listening" Yet given as a negative label of echolalia in an autistic child instead of useful social strategy.

"Severe autism has reduced in the last 40 years." Not accurate!! It's just that autism includes many other dx since DSM-V and expanded to accommodate all ages, resulting in a bigger pool, so obviously that %severe looks smaller.

The type of ADOS module used depends on the oral level of the child. Module 1 is the one used for non-verbal/ minimally verbal kids. Seemed to imply that oral communication mandatory for ADOS, cannot be coded if child uses AAC.

Justification given is that use of AAC means

"It changes nature of eye contact."
"Are they modulating eye contact in some way"
"It changes the nature of what is happening."
They are not making eye contact when they are looking at device.
They are not doing social engagement with you while looking at device
There may be some pre-made phrases on device they are making use of

Seems like a fundamental problem if you run the module 1 on a child but say , oh by the way, you can’t communicate unless you can talk with your mouth.

So my question was whether ADOS then is not applicable to the 20-30% of autistics who have no to little spoken language.

Apparently ‘gestures’ are allowed but how much can you communicate with gestures unless you are fluent with ASL. And it is likely that kids with oral communication issues usually also have motor apraxia so their gesturing ability will not good as well.

We are thrilled that Hari Srinivasan will deliver the keynote for our #AutismAcceptance Month Event, Wed, Apr 3 at 4pm EST. Hari Srinivasan is a self-advocate, neuroscience PhD student and @PDSoros Fellow at Vanderbilt, & ACE committee member. Register at

https://duke.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrdeqorDIpHdRE-CRvLPHkzKdL_ta7eYq-#/registration

https://www.peasepress.com/product-page/essential-truths-the-bay-area-in-color