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It's called "executive dysfunction".

So this is part of Executive Dysfunction? I never knew what that meant. This is AS related in other words?

I just head something really interesting related to this on the Gametheory Podcast (it's made by the Next-Gen.biz people).

A woman who's company studies emotion related stuff mentioned how people with damage to certain parts of their brain, like the amygdala, aren't able to make decisions.

I also read in Tony Attwood's The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, that people with AS have physically abnormal amygdalas!

So...if that's all true, it would seem that people with AS have unusual amygdalas, and that somehow that affects decision making. Interesting.

AFAIK, yes. Executive dysfunction involves difficulties in decision which at the end impair planning ability.

I've heard contradictory kind of things about the neurology of AS, though. For someone the amygdala was atrophied, for others the amygdala was bigger.

I think this can create two kinds of AS people, those with exacerbated emotions (probably with superior memory, since a memory is easier to remember if associated with a feeling) and the more quiet ones.

I've already mentioned in other threads that in Chinese Five Elements theory there seems to be a correlation between autism and Metal element. Decisions are taken from gall bladder and plans are made by the liver; these two organs belong to Wood element, which is destroyed by Metal. By the way, Liver and gall bladder meridians run around the ears, so (although hearing as a sense belong to Water element) if Wood is weak, a person may have trouble with loud noises.

(Taoism is an obsession of mine)

I carry a coin around with me everywhere, otherwise I wouldn't be able to choose anything.

"'Choose the sword, and you will join me. Choose the ball and you join your mother, in death.'"

Interesting. So planning ability would account for trouble making decisions. Would it also explain why I have a horrible time judging how much time I need to get ready (for work, going somewhere, whatever)? I'll always think I have plenty of time, and then all at once notice I should have left 10 minutes ago. I can't judge how long it's going to take to get ready. That would seem like it's a "planning ability", but I don't know if it's part of this executive dysfunction. What else does it cover?



Like two face...only not evil of course I've tried flipping a coin a lot of times to try to make decisions, only I never accept the outcome, so it doesn't work for me. I don't want my decision to be random, but want it to be the "correct" decision, only I can't figure out what the "correct" decision is. Sometimes that means I don't make any decision at all.

hey guys, it was about preference, not making decisions... at least the first post was about it. it's not that we don't know how to make a decision, we don't really care. there is no preference. one way or another, it's all the same.

I have this problem too. Each and every time I find myself late, I always wonder why I didn't just start getting ready earlier. I think part of the problem is that I have a fear of being someplace too early. If I'm there long before something starts, I can't leave. If I'm there right on time, or even a little late, I always have an escape plan. If I absolutely can't take it, I can always just leave early. When I'm there early and can't take it, I'm just stuck!



I would also be that way with a coin toss. All my decisions have to be thought through, not random.

Occasionally have that trouble. I'm very good when it comes to Restaurants, Lunch there are ways of making the right decision exept I had trouble looking for which chocolate bar tom have this morning when I was at the shop. Anyway thats hard though they are all nice!! !

Yeah...how can one possibly choose between black and white; chocolate and vanilla; life and death without chance being the final resolute voice? I wouldn’t choose anything otherwise...I’d sit there and ponder the positives and negatives of each until I die of starvation (considering there’s near an infinite amount of thought you can place upon a grain of sand if you want to; and I do).

Chance knows more than me.

I'm like that too. When I have to decide what I going to eat, I choose the same as my sister if she is with me, if I'm alone I take more time choosing food than eating it

If I only have two options, it would be easier.

Sometimes I think I might like some candy and so I go to the candy aisle... and there are so many yummy things to chose from, I have been known to leave the aisle with nothing because I can't decide which one I want.

So, yes. And I can't even chose a favorite band when people ask me. I just made up that "green" is my favorite color a few years back, so that I would have something to tell people when they ask me.

So are you able to make decisions if one thing is clearly better than the other? Like if you hate one thing, and love the other, you'd know that, right?

I'm fine in that situation, but frustrated when the decisions are too equal in quality, or if I don't have enough information about the decisions to know which is best. Multiple people have told me they don't want to hear "I don't know" from me anymore. (I do that sometimes too when I'm supposed to say how I feel-sometimes I don't know, though sometimes I'll say that because I don't want to say)

If I’m interested in something I’m prepared and concluded before the hand is drawn so I have no trouble there..., but if I’m not prepared I must flip the coin or...nothing.

Example: going on a journey to get the newest newfangled kill everything computer game that I’ve focused on. I’m fine here. Now, if I’m out for a different reason without my conclusion drawn and I see said kill everything game sitting next to computer calculus, or something equally boring to me; I know which one I like, I know which one I dislike; I still couldn’t choose without lady luck laughing at me.

My mother has some fun with me when grocery shopping, she'll tell me to go and get a loaf of bread. Daniel stands at the bread stand completely confused until mummy dearest chooses one..., when there’s more than two choices; help me please!

I'm "pretty" autistic, so I'm probably more severe than a lot of other people.

Aaaaaaaaaaaargh! My husband is so indecisive it drives me crazy.

When we first got married I nearly killed him when we went shoping for a sofa. I liked the second one we saw but nooooo we had to go to 50 other stores. Then he agonised over it for weeks.

Then we bought the second sofa that we'd seen

So now I'm just a big bossier with what I want and it makes all our lives easier.

This literally made me laugh. That's *EXACTLY* how I am! I spend weeks researching, thinking about it, asking everyone for advice, etc. before I can make some decisions (and even then I can't always figure out the correct decision).

Sometimes I do just want to be told what to do, as it's sooooo much easier than having to figure it out.



That sounds really hard to deal with. In my case I'd have no trouble choosing between a game I wanted and something boring, but I'd have trouble with two different games I wanted, or whether I should even get one at all (trying to figure out if I'd like it). I often spend what other people feel is a completely inordinate amount of time thinking about and researching a decision.
(Most recently I can't make up my mind about Odin Sphere, a neat 2D game for the PS2. It looks like I might love it, and it will probably only be available for a short time. But on the other hand, there are things about it that sound like it would be boring. I could rent it, but by the time I've done that it might not still be available. It was too hard to decide yesterday, so I just gave up for now and will think about it more.)



UGH. I can't stand having to weed through the dozens of different choices at grocery stores to find the right one. I'll just start reading labels to figure out which works, and sometimes pull out my PDA to do a calculation for which is really cheaper. But it's no fun at all. Sometimes I get really frustrated and just give up if I can't figure out what I'm supposed to get (or call someone for help on what I should get).



Yeah, I'm probably just fairly mild AS, and that's bad enough for decisions Must be so hard for you

Yeah, I tend to hate being asked what I want for dinner, or why I liked something or that kind of thing, if somebody gives me two specific alternatives, like 'would you like chicken or beef?" I can *usually* decide which one i want, unless it's really close between the two, but if somebody gives me an open-ended question like that my usual response is 'I dunno' unless I have a random craving for a particular food or whatever, sometimes I ask 'what do we have" to get a list of options because that makes it a lot easier.

I have the same problem, it always takes me way longer to do things then I thought it should have.