After reading a few papers, I'm not entirely sure it's as negative as I thought it was initially/has been suggested. According to some research I've stumbled across, ASDs seem akin to learning disabilities in that certain differences at birth lead to a compounding disadvantage when it comes to social learning as we get older. It seems like there is also evidence that suggests the ASD may have a skewed set of fear responses so to speak,
Quote:
In addition to the possible effects of amydala dysfunction on the functioning of the PFC, dysfunction of the orbital medial PFC might also have an important impact on amygdala functions. For example, when lesions of the medial PFC are made just prior to fear conditioning, animals show normal acquisition of the emotional learning, i.e. they show typical autonomic changes and freezing behavior when the conditioned stimulus (an auditory cue) is turned on. However, these animals do not show the normal rate of extinction, i.e. animals continue to show fear responses when the auditory tone is repeatedly presented without the foot shock (Morgan et al., 1993). These results indicate that the medial prefrontal cortex may be essential in “turning off” the amygdala fear systems when they are no longer necessary. The uninformed amygdala continues to send out its cry of alarm because it has not received the safety signal from the prefrontal cortex that the situation is no longer fearful. When the medial prefrontal systems are damaged it is as if the amygdala is “stuck on” and unable to disengage from the fear response (LeDoux, 1996). If a ventromedial prefrontal lesion is present from birth, learning about social stimuli, such as facial expressions, gestures, and prosody might be impaired. A faulty connection between ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala could explain the lack of appropriate emotional and social behavior that is seen with autism.
The high levels of anxiety that many patients with AS and AD experience (Martin et al., in press), and the avoidance of eye contact to reduce anxiety and arousal (Hutt & Ounsted, 1966) may be related to the amygdala-medial PFC circuit. If the amygdala is “stuck on” because of inadequate medial prefrontal input, a continuous tonic, anxiety producing output from the central nucleus of the amygdala directly to autonomic centers of the hypothalamus will result. In this state, although arousal and general anxiety may be elevated, the individual is unable to mount a normal emotional response to fear and other emotional stimuli because the circuit may be already nearly fully activated (LeDoux et al., 1982). This model would explain the inability of the affected individual to appreciate and respond to new social-emotional events.
There's also the common notion of differences in monoamine production, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, when attracted to someone. Given that I tend to be more depressive when attracted to someone I believe that simulating this may allow me to mediate the conditions the occur I've had problems with in the past during these circumstances. I.e. this may help me train to minimize the influence of factors I had trouble dealing with in the past.
I know this may sound like I'm rationalizing these behaviors, and I may be, but according to the literature it seems that ASD are primarily social learning disorders involving emotional processing and reactions. If I can manage to mediate my emotional reactions wrt social events, I can take steps toward learning what I've had trouble picking up all my life.
P.S. I meant OCD in the slang, not clinical sense, as in repetitive behaviors. Although given how much I interchange the two I imagine what I write is as clear as mud.
18 Nov 2007, 8:33 am
