"Keep making excellence a Priority"
Vandy is racking it in this year
First a shoutout to MacArthur Genius Grant given to Keivan Staussun at Frist Center.
Next a Nobel in Chemistry.
Disability and Multilingualism
The approach, shaped by clinicians who advised speaking only English to autistic children, paradoxically led to a loss of cultural identity rather than the inclusive exposure that neurotypical children might receive.
Read Full Article at unesco.org...
Weak Central Coherence Theory
The Weak Central Coherence Theory (WCC) of autism, proposed by Uta Frith in the late 1980s and further developed by others, is a cognitive theory that attempts to explain some of the characteristic features of autism. The theory posits that autistics tend to process information in a detail-focused manner, often at the expense of global or contextual processing.
Key Components of WCC Theory:
- Detail-Focused Processing:
- Autistics are more likely to focus on the individual components of a stimulus rather than integrating these components into a coherent whole. This is sometimes referred to as "local processing" or "piecemeal processing.” Eg: notice the specific features of a face, like the shape of the nose or the color of the eyes, rather than perceiving the face as a unified whole.
- Reduced Global Processing:
- The theory suggests that there is a relative weakness in processing global or contextual information. This means that autistics might have challenges in seeing the "big picture" or understand the context in which details fit.
- For example, they might have difficulty understanding the main idea of a story or the overall mood of a social situation because they are focused on specific details.
Implications of Weak Central Coherence:
- Cognitive Strengths:
- The detailed-oriented processing style can lead to strengths in tasks that require attention to detail, such as certain types of puzzles, mathematical problems, or tasks involving pattern recognition.
- Autistics may excel in fields that value precision and attention to minute details.
- Social and Communication Challenges:
- Difficulty in integrating social cues and contextual information can contribute to challenges in social communication and understanding. For instance, recognizing social subtleties or understanding non-literal language (such as idioms or sarcasm) can be difficult.
- Problems with central coherence might also affect understanding narratives, jokes, and metaphors that rely on context.
- Perceptual and Sensory Processing:
- Some research suggests that weak central coherence is related to atypical sensory processing seen in autism, where individuals might have heightened or diminished sensitivity to sensory input.
- This can manifest as either an intense focus on specific sensory details or difficulty in filtering out irrelevant sensory information.
What do LLM's know?
Listened to a very interesting lecture today at SfN. by LA Paul.
Got me thinking about belief systems.
Belief Systems in Humans and LLMs.
While LLMs can produce outputs that seem aligned with certain perspectives or mimic human belief-based reasoning, they do not possess beliefs in the true sense. The distinction lies in the lack of consciousness, subjective experience, and intentional reflection. Instead, LLMs generate text based on patterns they have learned, without the internal state that would constitute holding beliefs. What may look like a belief system is merely a complex simulation, an echo of the data from which they were trained.
Do we need to update our belief systems to better understand LLM?
To better understand LLMs, humans may need to update their belief systems and frameworks, shifting away from traditional notions of intelligence, understanding, and knowledge. This means recognizing the statistical, context-based nature of LLM outputs, reframing how we think about AI capabilities, and addressing the ethical considerations that arise from their use. These changes can help foster a more accurate and nuanced understanding of what LLMs are, how they work, and what their role can be in our lives and society.
- Reframing Concepts of Intelligence: People often equate intelligence with understanding, leading to misconceptions about AI. LLMs simulate understanding based on learned patterns, not conscious thought, so recognizing this distinction helps prevent overestimating their abilities.
- Redefining Knowledge: Unlike human knowledge, LLMs work through statistical associations. Viewing them as tools for generating information rather than sources of human-like knowledge helps set realistic expectations.
- Context in Outputs: Humans tend to attribute intention to LLMs, but their outputs depend on context and training data. Focusing on this can clarify that their responses reflect patterns, not intentions.
- Recognizing LLM Limits: LLMs can mimic expertise but cannot verify facts or produce original thoughts. Differentiating fluency from factuality helps maintain a critical perspective on AI-generated content.
- Adopting Ethical Perspectives: As LLMs become more prevalent, it's important to address biases and responsibility for their outputs. Recognizing the societal impact of AI helps frame it beyond just a technical tool.
- Developing Communication Strategies: Effective use of LLMs requires skill in prompting and understanding their strengths. Clear communication about their capabilities helps prevent misunderstandings about AI’s nature.
Autistic Inertia
Autism Lexicon: Autistic Inertia
Autistic inertia refers to the difficulty some autistic individuals experience in initiating or terminating tasks, linked to neurobiological factors affecting cognitive flexibility, task switching, and motor planning.
PlainSpeak: Autistic inertia describes the challenges that autistic people may face in starting or stopping activities, often needing extra effort or support due to differences in brain function
Read in More Detail about Autistic Inertia
Emotionality Paradigm
An emotionality paradigm refers to an experimental framework or set of tasks designed to study how individuals perceive, process, and respond to emotional stimuli. These paradigms typically involve presenting participants with stimuli that elicit emotions, such as images, sounds, or videos of facial expressions, emotional words, or scenarios that convey different emotional states (e.g., fear, joy, anger, disgust). Researchers use these paradigms to investigate aspects of emotional processing, including recognition of emotions, emotional regulation, attention to emotional cues, and the impact of emotions on decision-making or behavior.
In the context of neuroscience or psychology, emotionality paradigms might be used alongside techniques like EEG, fMRI, or behavioral tasks to observe the neural correlates of emotional processing or assess how emotional responses differ across populations, such as in autism or anxiety disorders. For example, a task might involve showing a participant an image of a fearful face and measuring their brain response or reaction time to assess how quickly and accurately they process the emotion.
In PlainSpeak (Lay Language)
An emotionality paradigm is a way for researchers to study how people react to and process emotions. In these studies, participants are shown things that cause emotional reactions, like pictures, sounds, or videos showing different feelings such as happiness, fear, or anger. The goal is to understand how people recognize emotions, how they manage or control their emotions, and how emotions affect their thoughts or decisions.
In brain research, these tasks might be done while tracking brain activity using tools like EEG or fMRI, which help see how the brain processes emotions. These studies are often used to compare how people with different conditions, like autism or anxiety, respond to emotional situations. For example, a task might show a picture of a scared face, and researchers would measure how fast or accurately someone notices or reacts to that emotion.
Autism Cares Act 2024 Reauthorization
Key Highlights of the Autism CARES Act of 2024:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4762/text
Reauthorization and Amendments:
These funding priorities aim to support comprehensive research, early detection, intervention, and coordination of services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder
Reauthorization and Amendments:
- The bill reauthorizes programs and research related to autism under the Public Health Service Act until 2029.
- It includes amendments to improve the language and scope of existing provisions, such as changing "culturally competent" to "culturally and linguistically appropriate."
- Extends the program's authorization to 2029.
- Updates terminology to be more inclusive and accurate.
- Emphasizes culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
- Expands the scope to include both screening and diagnostic services.
- Promotes research on evidence-based practices and interventions.
- Requires a report on the need for developmental-behavioral pediatricians and the feasibility of expanding training programs.
- Requires annual summaries and biennial updates on activities.
- Extends the committee's authorization to 2029.
- Updates the timeline for required reports to 2024.
- Adds a requirement for a report on young adults with autism transitioning to adulthood.
- Expands research areas to include psychiatry, psychology, gerontology, and other relevant fields.
- Requires the NIH Director to consider the various needs of individuals with autism, including co-occurring conditions.
- Mandates an annual budget estimate for autism research initiatives.
- Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide training and technical assistance on using federal funds for communication tools for individuals with autism.
- Requires an annual report on the technical assistance provided and advancements in communication tools.
- Developmental Disabilities Surveillance and Research: $28,100,000 annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
- Autism Education, Early Detection, and Intervention: $56,344,000 annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
- Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and Related Activities: $306,000,000 annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
These funding priorities aim to support comprehensive research, early detection, intervention, and coordination of services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder
Caught Between Tears and Stoicism
A story worth telling— not because it is exceptional for a disabled person to feel pride, but because it is an ordinary human experience. And that, in itself, is enough.
Read Full Article at
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Comment
Beautifully written and very wise, Hari! I will also share it with my students.
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