'Theory of Mind'

Re Eve's post, thanks for this.

I think the real problem lies with "not being able to see the wood for the trees". People on the autistic spectrum are flooded with information and have to work through it to make sense. NTs seem to get the key points much faster, but I wonder if they get it as accurately.

I suspect the AS subjects were partly taken up with filtering the complexity of the changing patterns, whereas the "normal" subjects (what ever that means given the extent of Theory of Mind symptoms) saw the key information quickly. Given more time the AS subjects would probably have scored full marks. So is that just information processing speed or Theory of Mind?

What your son may be experiencing is that it takes longer for him to process the information but he probably gets better results, spots anomalies and variations, and does an overall better job. Unfortunately NTs are flattered by themselves...never mind the detail, get the general impression, never mind the consequences.

Re Hope's post - yes we are being watched. NTs study people's faces at regular intervals to gauge whether friend or foe, how other people respond to them etc. They spend longer with faces on the autistic spectrum because our facial expressions may be less informative, even ambiguous, and poor eye contact, gaze aversion apparent non-attentiveness or pre-occupation. So they stare much longer at us wondering why we aren't responding the way they expect.

I was for many years very concuious of being stared at. Part of it was my height - being unusual gets you looked at - but I also probably looked a bit grim and threatening (so logically surely it would be wiser not to stare).

But then NTs have the capacity for stating the obvious - you're huge, have big sharp teeth and look as if you're going to eat me - well if so shouldn't you have started running away minutes ago?

Re Eve's post, thanks for this.

I think the real problem lies with "not being able to see the wood for the trees". People on the autistic spectrum are flooded with information and have to work through it to make sense. NTs seem to get the key points much faster, but I wonder if they get it as accurately.

I suspect the AS subjects were partly taken up with filtering the complexity of the changing patterns, whereas the "normal" subjects (what ever that means given the extent of Theory of Mind symptoms) saw the key information quickly. Given more time the AS subjects would probably have scored full marks. So is that just information processing speed or Theory of Mind?

What your son may be experiencing is that it takes longer for him to process the information but he probably gets better results, spots anomalies and variations, and does an overall better job. Unfortunately NTs are flattered by themselves...never mind the detail, get the general impression, never mind the consequences.

Re Hope's post - yes we are being watched. NTs study people's faces at regular intervals to gauge whether friend or foe, how other people respond to them etc. They spend longer with faces on the autistic spectrum because our facial expressions may be less informative, even ambiguous, and poor eye contact, gaze aversion apparent non-attentiveness or pre-occupation. So they stare much longer at us wondering why we aren't responding the way they expect.

I was for many years very concuious of being stared at. Part of it was my height - being unusual gets you looked at - but I also probably looked a bit grim and threatening (so logically surely it would be wiser not to stare).

But then NTs have the capacity for stating the obvious - you're huge, have big sharp teeth and look as if you're going to eat me - well if so shouldn't you have started running away minutes ago?