"There's a link between autism and genius"

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btbnnyr, you do research in this area, yes? You should take a look at the discussion over at ESR's blog that I linked above:

http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7060

Lots of hard-core computer people there making complex brain analogies that may be interesting. (Anyone can comment on that site also, though you may have to register.)

From the blog, one thing that did not seem to match what I know about smart people and autistic traits is that the really smartest people I know do seem to be most socially inept, while the smart but not quite as smart seem mostly normal. There is some distinction between these groups that someone explained to me once, that the smart group 1 don't relate themselves to others since they have mostly been alone in their smartness, while the smart group 2 do relate themselves to others and are more outwardly competitive with others since they were not alone in their smartness. I am in the smart group 3, the one with the bizarre brain waves that no one can understand.

That makes sense. But what is the difference between the really intelligent group, and the less intelligent group? What IQ ranges do the
first and second group have?

My IQ is high, but I'm only gifted, not a genius. And I had always thought maybe the reason I couldn't really relate to others was because I wasn't around many people with similar intelligence. But I've known people more intelligent than I with normal social skills. Well, normal as far as I can tell.

I really think that my abilities have nothing to do with not playing "monkey social rituals." I am good at things because I become obsessed with them, hyperfocus on them, notice all the small details that others miss, and because I care very much about doing well. A part of it is also talent, intelligence, and working memory. However, while my auditory working memory is excellent, my visual working memory is only average.

How exactly do you know about your brain waves? Did you participate in a research study?

https://www.autism.com/understanding_savants

/edit
I have been tested multiple times and score in the above average / high range (IQ) on some points but have very bad working- memory, slow processing speed and am also dyslexic. My very limited interest also don't help in some part of the test. I don't feel like a smart/genius even when other sometimes suggest I am. Actually I feel very uncomfortable when people around me call me "smart", they always expect way too much from me and expect me to be good at everything.

I am not sure how to distinguish the two smart groups, as it was something that someone else explained to me, and I am not sure what criteria they used. But by observation, I kind of know what they are talking about and generally agree. There is kind of a normal people smart group and a weirdo smart group, and the weirdos seem more narrow, more autistic-like, and overall more smart in the sense that if I wanted to figure out something that hasn't been figured out I would count on the weirdos more than the normals. But I don't it has to do with the "monkey games" the person was talking about on the blog. I know about my brain waves, because I am grad student doing neuroscience research and measure brain waves a lot.

Autism = good (average) to really good at some things; bad to really bad at others.

The uneven cognitive abilities have been known since Kanner.

I guess the groups are more personalty types, all with an IQ higher then 110-120? I am sure there are people with almost the same IQ you can place in those groups.

Lewis Terman (1916) developed the original notion of IQ and proposed this scale for classifying IQ scores:
Over 140 - Genius or near genius.
120 - 140 - Very superior intelligence.
110 - 119 - Superior intelligence.
90 - 109 - Normal or average intelligence.
80 - 89 - Dullness.
70 - 79 - Borderline deficiency.
Under 70 - Feeble-mindedness

50% of IQ scores fall between 90 and 110
70% of IQ scores fall between 85 and 115
95% of IQ scores fall between 70 and 130
99.5% of IQ scores fall between 60 and 140


Yeah, I do really recognize this in myself. Hyperfocus is also called "monotropism" attention-tunnel, I can get super obsessed and spend all my time focusing on my special interest and forget about everything and anyone around me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropism

Neuroscience research sounds exciting. It would have been something I might have gone to school for, if I hadn't been a high school drop-out with a baby when I was college-aged. Except that I've heard that usually there is some animal experimentation involved, and I believe it to be unethical. I'd love to be able to measure my brain waves.

I was trying to get into a research study where they do fMRI on subjects periodically while they perform tasks. However, I was told that subjects would not be able to have access to their data at any time in the future, which made it sort of pointless for me.



I'm not sure I fully fit the description of a monotropic autistic.

I had no speech delays. I actually had very early and advanced speech. I also have empathy and the ability to share emotions. And I've had peer relationships in the past.

I do have difficulties focusing on more than one thing at a time, and if I must I'm often confused. But it depends on what it is. Regardless, I do "zero in" on what I am concentrating on, or on things that I'm currently obsessed with. I will block out other things and can focus for long periods of time, as long as I can reach that point of intense concentration.

Those are common signs and are not required afaik. It is a theory trying to explain the insane focus some of us have.

There is no animal experiments where you have to torture or kill animals when studying cognitive, computational neuroscience using humans as research subjects. I stay away from neurobiology at all cost, my dream is not to pop brains out of rodent skulls, or stick things into monkey brains. I don't even want to stick things into human brains.

I think most of the people I am thinking of probably have 140+ IQ based on their smartness, but no one knows what their IQ is, since it was not measured.

@ btbnnyr

That really sounds interesting. Now that I know that animal experimentation is not a requirement, I wish that I had pursued that for my education. But having dropped out of high school, with no SAT scores or anything else of merit, I highly doubt that I would have been accepted into any sort of program.

I met this girl in one of my classes. It was anatomy and physiology. She had an undergraduate degree in neuroscience, and gleefully described experimenting on rodent brains. She was planning on becoming a physicians' assistant. She seemed very callous about the idea of animal experimentation, and seemed to look forward to it. I found her attitude to be a little disturbing.

That is somewhat disturbing.
I often gleefully describe the horrible things I imagine doing to human subjects, but I never imagine doing anything horrible to animals.

I think I have a advantage, for most of my skills are above average. I have learning difficulties as well, mostly dyspraxia related. Though, they are somewhat severe, I think I have Mild Hyperlexia.

I don't think that there is any connection between autism and having smarts.

Maybe not across the board, but there is definitely a link between autism and being exceptionally intelligent in certain subjects that interest us.