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Is Asperger's considered a right hemisphere disorder?

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Poke
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25 Sep 2009, 12:44 pm

Subject says it all.



AspE
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25 Sep 2009, 12:45 pm

I don't think it has ever been localized to one hemisphere or the other.



Roman
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25 Sep 2009, 12:51 pm

Yes I heard that autism (both HFA and LFA) affects left hemisphere, while Asperger affects the right one.



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25 Sep 2009, 1:17 pm

I believe the right hemisphere is the one that controls intiution and perception, whereas the left controls rationality and analysis.

If you want to call Aspergers's a disorder, which I disagree with, but for the purpose of arguement, let's say it is. I believe what happens is this the right hemisphere is deprieved of connections with neurons at the expense of the left hemisphere. Indeed, the average Aspie brain (INMHO, I am not a neurologist) has maybe twice or three times moreneuron connections to the left then neurotypicals but only half of the connections to the right of NTs.



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25 Sep 2009, 1:23 pm

Bozewani wrote:
Indeed, the average Aspie brain (INMHO, I am not a neurologist) has maybe twice or three times moreneuron connections to the left then neurotypicals.


I knew it had more, but I didn't know it had twice or three times more. So why don't aspies have IQ of 200 or 300, and why don't they spend 4 years in school instead of 12? Is it because the more gifted people are not training themselves as much as less gifted ones, since they don't have as much pressure to?



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25 Sep 2009, 3:20 pm

Well.. If that was the case, then I would have to be HFA.
Cause I believe I'm more right-brained. (Sometimes far more).

Though I still tend to take things literally, and my mom says I'm looking very logically at things, and she also says she thinks words matters more to me than "how things are said" (Which is all considered left-brained stuff). :/



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25 Sep 2009, 3:40 pm

Bozewani wrote:
I believe the right hemisphere is the one that controls intiution and perception, whereas the left controls rationality and analysis.

If you want to call Aspergers's a disorder, which I disagree with, but for the purpose of arguement, let's say it is. I believe what happens is this the right hemisphere is deprieved of connections with neurons at the expense of the left hemisphere. Indeed, the average Aspie brain (INMHO, I am not a neurologist) has maybe twice or three times moreneuron connections to the left then neurotypicals but only half of the connections to the right of NTs.


I'm not sure what I am then as I'm good at all those things. I use both intuition and logic when I think. Using logic alone is too slow. I think of intuition as simply being hidden logic. Instead of thinking along the lines A->B->C->D I only consciously think A->D with B and C happening "under the surface". Then when I have to explain my reasoning to someone else I have to put in some effort to recover B and C and this requires more time.



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25 Sep 2009, 4:25 pm

marshall wrote:
Bozewani wrote:
I believe the right hemisphere is the one that controls intiution and perception, whereas the left controls rationality and analysis.

If you want to call Aspergers's a disorder, which I disagree with, but for the purpose of arguement, let's say it is. I believe what happens is this the right hemisphere is deprieved of connections with neurons at the expense of the left hemisphere. Indeed, the average Aspie brain (INMHO, I am not a neurologist) has maybe twice or three times moreneuron connections to the left then neurotypicals but only half of the connections to the right of NTs.


I'm not sure what I am then as I'm good at all those things. I use both intuition and logic when I think. Using logic alone is too slow. I think of intuition as simply being hidden logic. Instead of thinking along the lines A->B->C->D I only consciously think A->D with B and C happening "under the surface". Then when I have to explain my reasoning to someone else I have to put in some effort to recover B and C and this requires more time.


exactly!



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25 Sep 2009, 5:20 pm

I seem to be very right brained but still with the pedantry and logic of someone vey left brained


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25 Sep 2009, 5:21 pm

Roman wrote:
Yes I heard that autism (both HFA and LFA) affects left hemisphere, while Asperger affects the right one.


Could you provide your sources for this idea? I've talked this over with several psychiatrists, psychologists, and neurologist, and read over 100 books on the subject, and as far as I can tell at present the left/right brain dichotomy is more a pop psychology idea than a neurophysiological reality.

Also, could you clarify the difference between AS and HFA? The terms are, AFAIK, used all but interchangeably in the literature by some authors, and HFA is rejected in favor of AS by others.



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25 Sep 2009, 5:58 pm

NLD is a right hemisphere disorder, definitely and well researched.

I have heard that ASD's in general are left hemisphere disorders, but for those of us who are very verbal, the opposite may be true.


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25 Sep 2009, 7:25 pm

Aoi wrote:
Roman wrote:
Yes I heard that autism (both HFA and LFA) affects left hemisphere, while Asperger affects the right one.


Could you provide your sources for this idea? I've talked this over with several psychiatrists, psychologists, and neurologist, and read over 100 books on the subject, and as far as I can tell at present the left/right brain dichotomy is more a pop psychology idea than a neurophysiological reality.


What about right hemisphere stroke symptoms versus left hemisphere stroke symptoms? It's pretty obvious which hemisphere someone's stroke was on after spending about 5 minutes with them (or less), so clearly there is some lateralization of function (in general- it's not 100%). Are you sure you're not talking about the whole "right-brain artist" "left-brain scientist" pop psychology? Because while that idea is not very accurate and wildly misinterpreted, there are definitely certain functions which are usually associated with one hemisphere or the other.


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25 Sep 2009, 8:18 pm

The latest paper on such suggests that it is (2009).

Here:

Quote:
BACKGROUND: Whether autism spectrum maps onto a spectrum of brain abnormalities and whether Asperger's syndrome (ASP) is distinct from high-functioning autism (HFA) are debated. White-matter maldevelopment is associated with autism and disconnectivity theories of autism are compelling. However, it is unknown whether children with ASP and HFA have distinct white-matter abnormalities. MethodVoxel-based morphometry mapped white-matter volumes across the whole brain in 91 children. Thirty-six had autism spectrum disorder. A history of delay in phrase speech defined half with HFA; those without delay formed the ASP group. The rest were typically developing children, balanced for age, IQ, gender, maternal language and ethnicity. White-matter volumes in HFA and ASP were compared and each contrasted with controls. RESULTS: White-matter volumes around the basal ganglia were higher in the HFA group than ASP and higher in both autism groups than controls. Compared with controls, children with HFA had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the left hemisphere; those with ASP had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the right hemisphere with more white matter in the left parietal lobe. CONCLUSIONS: HFA involved mainly left hemisphere white-matter systems; ASP affected predominantly right hemisphere white-matter systems. The impact of HFA on basal ganglia white matter was greater than ASP. This implies that aetiological factors and management options for autism spectrum disorders may be distinct. History of language acquisition is a potentially valuable marker to refine our search for causes and treatments in autism spectrum.



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25 Sep 2009, 9:27 pm

I read somewhere that for the most part it's the right hemisphere of the brain that thinks in pictures and it's the left hemisphere of the brain that describes those pictures. If this is true, then for me the right hemisphere is quite active, and the left hemisphere is a bit inept; and therefore makes the ability to describe the pictures in the right hemisphere a bit challenging.


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25 Sep 2009, 10:20 pm

Danielismyname wrote:
The latest paper on such suggests that it is (2009).

Here:
Quote:
BACKGROUND: Whether autism spectrum maps onto a spectrum of brain abnormalities and whether Asperger's syndrome (ASP) is distinct from high-functioning autism (HFA) are debated. White-matter maldevelopment is associated with autism and disconnectivity theories of autism are compelling. However, it is unknown whether children with ASP and HFA have distinct white-matter abnormalities. MethodVoxel-based morphometry mapped white-matter volumes across the whole brain in 91 children. Thirty-six had autism spectrum disorder. A history of delay in phrase speech defined half with HFA; those without delay formed the ASP group. The rest were typically developing children, balanced for age, IQ, gender, maternal language and ethnicity. White-matter volumes in HFA and ASP were compared and each contrasted with controls. RESULTS: White-matter volumes around the basal ganglia were higher in the HFA group than ASP and higher in both autism groups than controls. Compared with controls, children with HFA had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the left hemisphere; those with ASP had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the right hemisphere with more white matter in the left parietal lobe. CONCLUSIONS: HFA involved mainly left hemisphere white-matter systems; ASP affected predominantly right hemisphere white-matter systems. The impact of HFA on basal ganglia white matter was greater than ASP. This implies that aetiological factors and management options for autism spectrum disorders may be distinct. History of language acquisition is a potentially valuable marker to refine our search for causes and treatments in autism spectrum.


Thank you. That's a fascinating finding. I hope to see it replicated on a larger scale and, if possible, prospectively. I'll have to read the paper if I can get the full text of it.



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26 Sep 2009, 10:51 pm

Roman wrote:
Bozewani wrote:
Indeed, the average Aspie brain (INMHO, I am not a neurologist) has maybe twice or three times moreneuron connections to the left then neurotypicals.


I knew it had more, but I didn't know it had twice or three times more. So why don't aspies have IQ of 200 or 300, and why don't they spend 4 years in school instead of 12? Is it because the more gifted people are not training themselves as much as less gifted ones, since they don't have as much pressure to?

It's because IQ tests and school work is designed for NT's. Some with an ASD could have a high IQ and some have the potential to have a high one but with the way the test is set out they may never know this.


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