The 8 main theories about autism

A summary of the most important explanatory theories of autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by communication and social difficulties as well as restricted interest patterns. Here we will discuss the main theories about autism that attempt to explain its origin..

Theories about autism

Although the origin of autism is currently considered unknown, a multitude of theories, both psychological and biological, have been developed to explain it. Some are more supported than others. Let us get to know them.

1. Psychological theories

Among these theories we find the following:

1.1. Theory of Mind.

One of the theories about autism is the one that relates the one that relates autism to the theory of the mind. (ToM), formulated by Simon Baron-Cohen. These types of theories have been increasingly investigated.

Theory of mind refers to the "ability of human beings to understand and predict other people's behavior, knowledge, intentions and beliefs".

The concept of ToM was introduced by Premack and Woodruf (1978), who conducted experiments with chimpanzees with the aim of understanding their capacity for comprehension in relation to the human mind.

1.2. Neuropsychological theory

This theory refers to an alteration of Executive Function in people with autism.

Fisher and Happé (2005) state that the failures characteristic of autism originate mainly from frontal lobe alterations.. The frontal lobe is responsible for functions such as memory and the regulation of environmental stimuli, both visual and auditory. It is also involved in emotional regulation, impulse control and social behavior.

In addition, frontal disorders are related to executive functions, frontal alterations are related to the executive functionsi.e., the set of processes responsible for generating, monitoring and controlling action and thought. In addition, they include aspects of planning and execution of complex behaviors, working memory and inhibitory control.

When these functions have been evaluated in the population with autism, the results have suggested global failures of executive function and particular aspects proposed as the cause of ASD.

Global impairments in executive functioning have been observed in a high number of perseverations and failures to find strategies. perseverations and failures to find effective strategies to achieve the goal.for example, on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

In relation to these findings, a possible prefrontal alteration together with subcortical dysfunctions has been proposed as the cause of the typical symptoms of ASD in the social and cognitive areas.

1.3. Central Coherence Debilitation Theory

Another theory about autism is the theory proposed by Uta Frith in 2003, who proposes that autism is characterized by a specific deficit in the integration of information at different levels..

According to this theory, children with autism present difficulties in efficiently making comparisons, judgments and conceptual inferences.

1.4. Hobson's affective-social theory

Hobson's theory (1995) states that cognitive and social deficits in autism are affective-social in nature. Hobson argues for the role of emotion in the development of interpersonal relationships as a primary deficit in persons with autism.. He suggests that people with autism manifest greater difficulty in understanding emotion, and that this negatively affects their social interactions.

Hobson studied the spontaneous language of autistics to learn about their early verbalizations about mental states, and found specific deficiencies in their ability to talk about states such as thinking, knowing and believing..

In short, Hobson proposes to rescue the importance of the interpersonal-affective disorders that are at the basis of the problem of autism.

1.5. Baron-Cohen's theory of mental blindness

According to this theory, closely related to the theory of mind, people affected by an autism spectrum disorder do not understand the intentions of others, and experience anxiety when certain behaviors seem unpredictable to them, as they are unable to anticipate the intentions of others.They are unable to anticipate events.

Baron-Cohen proposes a delay in the development of theory of mind, producing varying degrees of "mind-blindness".

This theory would explain the social and communication difficulties of people who are not neurotypical and by extension autistic. This limitation also occurs in other pathologies such as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic behavior and people in psychotic phase.

1.6. Extreme male brain theory (Baron-Cohen)

This author proposes an excess of testosterone during pregnancy that ends up originating an excessively masculinized brain. an excessively masculinized brain (good for systematizing and bad for empathizing). It has never been proven.

2. Biological theories

On the other hand, within the biological theories we find the following theories about autism:

2.1. Anatomical theories.

Some authors have found lesions of the right hemisphere in autistic childrenThe results have been related to alterations in speech functions and in nonverbal language impairments. All this hinders the understanding of different attitudes in others (for example, understanding sarcasm, irony or double meanings), as well as empathy and the ability to infer and attribute aspects of others.

Thus, the right hemisphere has important implications for understanding perception, emotional appearance, nonverbal language, face recognition and emotions. Structural alterations have also been found in the amygdala and the temporal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex.

Specifically, the amygdala has been related to the regulation of emotions, especially feelings of anger.The amygdala is involved in the regulation of emotions, especially feelings of anger and fear and the physiological reaction to these emotions. On the other hand, the anterior cingulate enables people the "ability to establish solutions to a novel problem by making predictions of the consequences".

2.2. Other biological theories

In addition to the anatomical theories mentioned we find: genetic hypotheses (Fragile X Syndrome with autistic characteristics), immunological (infectious processes, such as congenital rubella), metabolic (phenylketonuria), convulsive conditions (e.g. West Syndrome), pre/peri/post natal conditions and finally the hypothesis of hyperserotoninemia (excess of serotonin in the cerebrospinal fluid).

Bibliographic references:

• García, D. & Muñoz, P. (2000). Executive functions and school performance in primary education. An exploratory study. Revista Complutense de Educación, 11(1), 39-56.
• Tirapu-Ustárroz, J., Pérez-Sayes, G., Erekatxo-Bilbao, M. & Pelegrín-Valero, C. (2007). What is theory of mind? Journal of Neurology, 44, 479-489.
• Gomez, I. (2010). Cognitive science, theory of mind and autism. Pensamiento Psicológico, 8(15), 113-124.
• Liliana Calderón, L., Congote, C. , Richard, Sh. , Sierra, S. , Vélez, C. (2012). Contributions from theory of mind and executive function to the understanding of autism spectrum disorders. CES Psychology Journal, 5(1), 77-90.