Autistic brains 'never daydream'

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I just wonder how on earth staring at a particular shape is supposed to be "at rest" in the first place. If I'm looking at anything, I'm not "at rest".

That's exactly my sentiment. That's a flawed study on it's face. We tend to lock on to things and stay active until finished. They gave the people in the test an activity to work on for a rediculously short period of time. Anyone who's been to college and had research methods can see that they didn't properly control for that aspect in their study.

I think it is useless to say "autistics never daydream" without a clear and detailed definition/description of what exactly constitutes daydreaming. Otherwise we are all talking about different things while using the same word.

Everybody day-dreams for it is Human nature to do so. Even the vote shows that Yes 0, No 37.

yep I've had checking everyday. Not annoyed I think the "research" is flawed.

Very nice answers. I agree.

Here's a better result:
"Those that have a brain on the autusitic spectrum do not appear to daydream while focuising on a task over a period of thirty seconds, whereas their nuerotypicial counterparts do."

Did the researchers say that Auties "never daydream", or was that the simplistic hook given to it by a reporter or PR agent to make a somewhat lame press release from Expert Researcher X appear more sensational?

I couldn't have said it more convolutedly generical myself... might as well say "Such findings will help us know something, and maybe use it in something." Personally, I like my findings to be really cool, and help me show up the competition as clueless tossers, but each to his/her own.

We do not all think visually, much less "think in pictures". Not that I wouldn't be surprised if over half of us are visual thinkers. I used to be much more of a visual thinker when I was younger, but not to an extreme level that some autistic autobiographers have written about.

I'd have to see the scans to be sure, but it may be that the aspie brains just didn't activate where the researcher's expected. That hardly indicates an absence of daydreaming. There are similar occurances in other disorders like schzophrenia.

I daydream so much I have to force myself to stay aware sometimes.

I don't daydream. Usually, there's nary a thought in my conscious mind. I think you'll find that as many autistics have trouble shutting their thoughts off, their thoughts will often wander off on wild tangents, and hence daydream. It is possible, and probable, that this daydreaming occurs in a different part of the brain. But obviously, I don't think daydreaming happens for everyone.

I can think visually or associatively. I can easily put pictures to words and words to pictures, and I will say that I tend to visualize most of what I'm thinking. I don't, however, have a photographic mind, and I can remember a lot of conversation pieces if they mean something to me. I can easily picture the conversation in my mind as it plays out, but I can't recall the entire conversation. I don't have a photographic mind, and I surely don't have the visual capacities that Temple Grandin talks about ... though I can imagine seeing a system operating in my mind in like a motion picture.

- Ray M -

Daydreaming is daydreaming, whether or not it occurs in different parts of the brain. Yes, my thoughts can go off on wild tangents as you say, though I tend to hyperfocus towards a given subject in question, but that subject may lead to another tangent that veers off from that subject. I might be thinking about something that happened in my family, for example, and it sometimes reminds me of something I heard on a website about another situation, and I may start thinking about that situation, and so forth. I am always thinking about something. Always. Even when I watch TV, I sometimes have to make an effort not to think about something else and lose my train of thought on the TV show itself.

- Ray M -

i think we daydream differently because our brains are set up a little differently. but I do daydream(a lot).

But that's the question, Ray. DOES daydreaming serve a purpose? If so, if it has a specific function of allowing the brain to rest and wind, in a similar function to REM sleep, and if autistic daydreaming does not occur in the same area of the brain, DOES IT STILL HAVE THAT SAME EFFECT? Hence it may appear the same, but it may well not be.

I think I daydream a lot, my thoughts go very very fast, and yeah, sometimes I focus at something and then I start thinking a whole story about it and remembering lots of things. I think musically, everytime I have a song in mind, even when thinking about other things...

I think I daydream often. Although much of it could be considered planning, or problem solving. I would need daydreaming defined to know for sure. I mull over problems I am trying to solve in my mind constantly, because I don't think quickly on my feet. When I am quietest my thoughts are buzzing along. I think of it as processing data from the day's events and I am often backlogged.