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Autistm traits research paper
Autistm traits research paper
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Whenever John and his mother drive to Rite Aid, he insists that they take the same route every single time. Whenever he steps into a new Rite Aid, he must walk around for five to ten minutes and when he would come home, he would draw a perfectly memorized layout of the floor plan of that particular drug store. Often times, it is difficult for John to make eye contact with others, and instead he may fidget, rock his body back and forth, or even hit his head against the wall. These abnormal behaviors can be attributed to the fact that John was diagnosed with a disorder called Autism at the age of three.
Autism is a behavioral syndrome related to differences in brain functioning and sensory responses. The disorder impacts normal development of the brain in such areas as social interaction and communication skills, leading to a deficit in these areas. Recent studies have attributed this deficit and struggle with social interaction in children with autism to the mirror-neuron system not functioning properly. Researchers found that mirror neurons preform the same functions that are disrupted in Autism. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that one cause of Autism is a dysfunctional mirror-neuron system, given that the presumed functions of these class of neurons – such as empathy, intention-reading, mimicry, pretend play, and language learning- are deficient in autism. Studying the unexpected relationship between mirror neurons and autism is vital because this may have implications for the development of early behavioral interventions aimed at training basic mechanisms supported by the mirror-neuron system, rather than attempting to correct higher levels of complex behaviors.
Mirror neurons are a newly discovered, specific class of ner...
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...m. This many have implications for the development of early behavioral interventions aimed at triaging basic mechanisms supported by the mirror-neuron system, rather than correcting more complex behaviors.
Works Cited
Hulman, John. University Of California, San Diego. "Autism Linked To Mirror Neuron Dysfunction.”ScienceDaily, 18 Apr. 2005. 1-4.Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Hadjikhani, Nouchine. “Mirror Neuron System and Autism.” Nova Science Publishers, 2007. 151-166. Print.
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S., and Lindsay S. Oberman. "Broken Mirrors: A Theory of Autism." Scientific American Journal. (2006): 62-69. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Ramachandran, V.S. Interview by Jason Marsh. "Do Mirror Neurons Give Us Empathy?" Empathy. 29 Mar 2012. University of California, Berkeley. 29 Mar 2012. Print.
Ramachandran, V.S. The Tell-Tale Brain. New York: Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. 58-152. Print.
Studying the functions of the various structures of the brain is best carried out through analysis of brain defects. For example, individuals with autism exhibit particular behaviors that are not considered normal. Assuming that behavior originates from the brain, then it becomes clear that in order to discover the causes of the abnormal behavior a comparison must be made between and healthy brain and the brain of an autistic person. By finding structural differences such as size and composition, the role that the structures play in the behavior of the autistic can be inferred while also investigating the normal functions of brain structures.
Mitchell, R. W. (1992). Developing concepts in infancy: Animals, self-perception, and two theories of mirror self-recognition. Psychological Inquiry, 3(2), 127-130. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0302_9
Empathy, is a self-conscious characteristic human beings hold that allows them to understand another individual’s situation and feelings (Segal, Cimino, Gerdes &Wagaman, 2013). In regard to ho...
Autism is a developmental disorder that appears within the first three years of a child’s life. It affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. Autism affects 1 out of 68 children. It is also the fastest growing disability in the United States. There are multiple types of Autism, some children are considered high functioning, and some are low functioning. “High functioning” is when a child with autism can function in life, and completes jobs, and chores with little to no help. “Low functioning” is when a child with autism cannot complete simple daily tasks without help, and (or) constant supervision.
Rowe, Peter. “Delving into the Mystery of Autism.” San Diego Union-Tribune 16 October 2001. 9 December 2001
Office of Communications and Public Liaison. (2013, November 6). NIH. Retrieved from National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#243513082
The widely popular research on mirror neurons and various applications of the research findings began with an important, but unexpected finding in the brains of macaque monkeys. The original studies did not intend to look at mirror neurons and in fact the existence of mirror neurons was found by accident. Neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues found a group of cells that fired whenever a monkey prepared to act on a stimulus as well as when it watched another monkey act on the stimulus (Winerman, 2005). For example, the monkeys showed a similar pattern of activation when they were performing a simple motor action like grasping a peanut and when they watched another monkey perform the same action (Winerman, 2005). In other words, monkey see, monkey fire -- monkey do, monkey fire. This grouping of cells was called "mirror neurons." The ...
The theory of the study is about the norm of reciprocity, which can be explained by the mirror neurons in human’s body.
There is no known single cause of autism. Researchers are investigating a number of possible theories including genetics, heredity, medical problems, problems during pregnancy or delivery, as well as environmental influences. It is widely accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in the brain structure or function. There is evidence from neuropathological studies that autism has its origins in abnormal brain development early in prenatal life which continues postnatally, showing acceleration in brain growth measured by head circumference (Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P., 2005). The disorder also seems to have a genetic basis, although researchers have yet to find the specific genes that link to the onset of autism. There could be a cluster of genes that have somehow interfered with normal brain development and function. Studies show that twins of children with autism were more likely to be autistic themselves than the regular population, demonstrating there is a heredity lin...
Murray, S. 2010. Autism Functions/ The function of Autism, in Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol 30, No 1, 2010. The Society for Disability Studies.
The West Chester Library database was used to collect studies. The terms searched were “verbal behavior”, “autism”, “tact”, “mand”, “echoic”, and “intraverbal”. The search results were limited to studies conducted within 10 years of 2017. This timeframe was chosen in order to include studies not covered in past reviews and to highlight the increasing contributions of recent research to this field. In order to identify relevant studies potentially missed by electronic search, ancestry searches through the reference lists of studies meeting inclusion criteria were conducted. Thirty-six articles resulting from this search were reviewed for potential inclusion in the
Autism, or a disorder of social and functional challenges (‘Facts about ASD’), affects about 1 in every 68 children in the world today (‘Facts about ASD’). More than 3.5 million Americans have some form of the disorder, although autism only takes up 1 percent of the world (‘Facts and Statistics’). The cause of autism has not yet appeared to scientists, but they have developed different ways of living for the mother to do before she gets pregnant, after she gets pregnant and after the baby’s birth to prevent autism arising in a child (‘Can Autism Be Prevented?’). Autism robs children and adults of the rights they have to walk, talk, and think like normal humans do every single day. My personal experience with autism showed me what the condition
Two to six children out of every thousand will end up with Autism. Autism is one of the fastest growing disorders with a great amount of studies being put behind it. With its vast amount of different signs and symptoms, different forms, how its treated, and arguments about how exactly the disorder came to be , Austin can very well be one of the most confusing, and researched disorders, for its a disorder that stirs up tons of questions but yet gets hardly any answers. Autism is usually developed between ages of one and three, it effects communication and how the child interacts with others. It is defined by behaviors of the child and “ spectrum disorders” that re different with each person. (About Autism, 2008, para 1). Symptoms of autism can very in many different ways, and even different categories. Take the category of social interaction and relationships symptoms include : non verbal communication development problems such as , eye - to - eye gazing, body language, and facial expressions, failure to make friends with people their own age, lack of interest, and lack of empathy. The category for verbal and non verbal symptoms include : Delay or lack when learning to talk, about forty person of people with autism never speak, problems with starting, and keeping conversations, repetitive use of language, and difficulty understanding what someone is saying. Finally the category of interests and play include : unusual focus on pieces, preoccupation on certain topics, a need for the same routine, and stereotyped behaviors like hand flapping and body rocking.
Empathy has a biological base, as how we feel empathy comes from a person’s brain. Rizzolatti (2004) studied mirror neurons in order to find out how empathy works. These mirror neurons have been discovered in the premotor cortex of monkeys that show when individuals act out a given motor act and when they are observing someone else who is also doing the same motor act. Further evidence shows the existence of these neurons in humans. The human mirror neuron system involves understanding other people’s action and the reason behind them, which is essentially what empathy is about. (Cattaneo & Rizzolatti, 2009).
Andrews, K. (2002). Interpreting autism: a critique of Davidson on thought and language. Philosophical Psychology, 15(3). Retrieved from: