Why Aspies and Neurotypicals do the things they do

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We're all guided by whatever gives us the greatest dopamine charge. For Neurotypical people, this is usually social interaction with other people in various forms and spending time in environments they consider pleasurable. For Aspies, this is usually an activity centered around either conceptual of physical structures that are perceived as complex and aesthetical, whether it's a clockwork, a scientific field, film, music, literature, ... But in essence, all humans (both Neurotypicals and Aspies alike) are guided by their dopamine charges. That's what gives our lives meaning. This is what makes us genuinely happy.

The difference between Aspies and Neurotypicals is essentially that Neurotypicals let their lives being run by their subconscious unless their subconscious can't handle it (only then their consciousness takes over) whereas Aspies do everything consciously because they don't have enough dopamine to let their subconscious take over. Once you're at a sufficient dopamine level and you allow your subconscious to take over, however, your life becomes far more pleasurable, far more meaningful and other people start making a lot more sense.... and life becomes a hell of a lot easier.

After taking a dopamine bomb last Saturday, this is precisely what happened to me. I've been a Neurotypical for about a week now and I now understand both the world of Aspies and the world of Neurotypicals in ways I never did before. If anyone has any questions on why either Aspies or Neurotypicals behave in a certain way, I will try to explain it the best way I can.




Here's a FAQ below for some of the more common questions :

What causes Asperger's Syndrome?

Neurotypical people are guided by their subconscious and only use their consciousness whenever their subconsciousness is insufficient. Aspies on the other hand, need to use their consciousness all the time. This is because they are incapable of delegating different processes to the different parts of the frontal cortex which is necessary for the subconscious processing that is so self-evident for neurotypicals.

The cause of Asperger's Syndrome is thus a lack of delegation by the prefrontal cortex to the different parts of the frontal cortex. If you do some research on the function of the frontal cortex, you'll notice that this part of the brain is responsible for precisely the areas that affect people with Asperger's and symptoms of brain damage to the frontal cortex are strikingly similar to the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome. For this delegation process, the prefrontal cortex uses dopamine and this substance exists at only marginal levels among people with Asperger's Syndrome.

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What is dopamine?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter the pre-frontal cortex uses to delegate different tasks to different parts of the frontal cortex, which allows people to exhibit intuitive behavior. It also generates emotional responses to environmental factors, including other humans. All people need a minimum amount of dopamine in their lives to make their lives satisfactory. For people with Asperger's Syndrome, dopamine levels are much lower than Neurotypical people.
This has two significant consequences :
- delegation of different tasks to different parts of the frontal cortex does not work and is replaced by rational processes.
- only very few activities generate sufficient levels of dopamine to obtain a sense of happiness and these activities often need to be approached in an almost obsessive manner for that.

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What is serotonine?

Serotonine is a neurotransmitter that is generated when pleasure is experienced. Unlike dopamine levels, serotonine is generated at normal levels among people with Asperger's. However, since happinness and pleasure are correlated low levels of dopamine often imply low levels of serotonine and vice versa. It's hard to have fun when you're not happy and it's hard to be happy when you rarely have fun.

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What is the frontal cortex?

The frontal cortex is an area in the brain of mammals that contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cerebral cortex. This part of the brain is associated with reward, attention, long-term memory, planning, and drive. Dopamine tends to limit and select sensory information arriving from the thalamus to the fore-brain.

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What is the prefrontal cortex?

The prefrontal cortex is the anterior part of the frontal cortex. This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behaviors, personality expression, decision making and moderating correct social behavior. The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals. The most typical psychological term for functions carried out by the prefrontal cortex area is executive function.

Executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially-unacceptable outcomes). There is an integral link between a person's personality and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.

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Why do people with Asperger's have so few interests and why are they so intense?

Unlike Neurotypical people, people with Asperger's do not spontaneously generate dopamine based on their experience of the outside world. As a consequence, they need other ways to generate this neurotransmitter and they find this in a handful of activities but only when at a fairly high level of intensity.

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Why do Neurotypical people seem so shallow?

Neurotypical people generate sufficient levels of dopamine from mere social interacting with people they consider sympathetic or environments they consider pleasurable. As such, they have no need to seek depth and intensity like people with Asperger's do. Of course there are Neurotypical people who appreciate depth and intensity, but for them this is a matter or choice rather than a matter of need.

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Why do Neurotypical people seem so irrational?

Because neurotypical people are guided by their subconsciousness and only use their consciousness whenever their subconsciousness is insufficient, many of them rarely ever contemplate on anything. As such, they do not realise the inner inconsistency of their beliefs.

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Why do Neurotypical people tend to adopt a lifestyle, attitude and belief system similar to their parents?

In their childhood, instinctive behavior among Neurotypicals is developed by observing their environment. They subconsciously attach different values, principles and ideas to different emotions that are generated by dopamine and thus by their environment. If this is a healthy and stable environment, they are likely to experience this as comfortable and as a consequence they will later unconsciously seek to establish a life that resembles the healthy and stable environment of their youth.

Belief systems (whether religious or political) are used to link the individual to the rest of the universe. It gives us a place in the universe, it gives us comfort and it gives us a sense of meaning. When people are given a belief system at a very early age, the instinctively build their whole way of thinking atound this belief system and the older they get the more difficult it becomes to replace it by something else as they would feel lost without such a belief system to instinctively trust. This is also why they tend to become very hostile when their belief system is challenged.

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Why is it what when Neurotypical people find out a person is engaged, they immediately ask, "When is the wedding date?" or "What is your color scheme?" That information is none of their concern!

They aren't really interested in your wedding date or your color scheme but just want to have a chat and among neurotypicals it is considered sympathetic to talk about the life of the person you're talking with. I don't see why you should hide this kind of information for anyone, so among neurotypicals it would be best just to go along with it and tell them what they want to hear.

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Why the hell do I have to put my knife and fork in the middle of the plate after eating?

It's a signal to other people (eg. waiters) that says you're finished. It's just one of many non-verbal signals Neurotypical people have agreed upon that seem self-evident to them but ackward to Aspies.

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What makes parties or clubbing fun for Neurotypical people?

Neurotypical people are emotionally sensitive to the behavior of other people as well as music. The combination of likable music and happy faces releases a certain amount of dopamine in their body and this gives a very comfortable feeling as well as an energy boost that makes them want to talk and/or dance.

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What's the point of sororities and fraternities?

It creates a sense of connection between students who have little else in common and it allows for some great parties and other social events to be organised.

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Why do teenage boys sometimes use a "secret handshake" or "code language"?

It creates a sense of having shared knowledge not available to other people, which in turn creates an emotional connection.

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I don't understand Job applications.

Job applications are intended not to test your skills but to test your personality. You have to adjust your behavior to the kind of personality they want as a new employee and if you don't do this there's no chance in hell they'll hire you. In fact, they might even hire someone with a more applicable personality but worse qualifications.

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I don't know if this is the same thing but it drives me nuts when people see me reading a book and say "romance novel"? or eating a salad and saying "are you on a diet?"

They try to guestimate what you're doing. If they're right, they get a sense of mutual understanding, which can help in the banding process.

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The weather always comes up in small talk. Why is that?

Especially if you're outside, the weather is an easy non-offensive icebreaker. On top of that, neurotypical people are emotionally sensitive to weather changes and therefore it is also an easy topic to find common ground.

Seening birth of first child , and second was was like taking a dopamine bomb. Know what you mean when you're talking about that smooth , warm social interaction thing . Wears off after a while.

What happens to you when it wears off over a few months and you are left with the reality all social-dopies face, bills, work, bullets, real bombs etc. If it was such a great system why are so many of them getting divorced and falling out with each other all the time?

I'm not saying you are wrong, but in UK we have things called beer traps. I genuinely hope you haven't found one of these.

Also what about unnaturally high level of happy chemicals when you need to go through natural process of grief?

A large amount of dopamine is the feeling you get when you have so-called "goosebumps". It usually doesn't last very long unless in extremely emotional situations. I can imagine the is precisely the feeling you get when your first child is born, although I can't speak of experience.



I'm not really sure how dopamine is linked to sensations like fear, distress or worry. These are sensations I still have to learn under my new condition. All this is very new for me (a week) and I haven't been through enough hardship during that week to judge that.



I'm not from the UK (I'm not even a native English speaker) so I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Could you please explain?



In times of depression you have a deficiency of both serotonine (the fun substance) and dopamine (the happiness substance). Drugs like MDMA (XTC) increase these substances in your brain to very high levels for a short time and legal antidepressants have similar effects but the increase is much smaller and more controlled (allowing you to graduately increase your neurotransmitter levels if you take them daily).

Grief can be compared with depression, but it's only temporary and based on environmental conditions (things that happen in your life) whereas depression is chronic and unrelated to environmental conditions.

Wow - you must have taken a smart pill, too - you suddenly seem to know everything!

I don't know everything, but a bit of research in a recent book on neuropsychology and my experience with both the Aspie world and the Neurotypical world does give a man some privileges few other people have.

But hey... I'm a former Mensa member so I never was an idiot in te first place.

You have really good insight on this subject matter.

I wasn't thinking about your responses to it, but rather how a socially derived dopamine reinforced sets of behaviors do not always lead to harmonious relationships between individuals and between groups of individuals.

The consequences of "organically happy' may actually be worse than cool "objectivification" . You just get to smile through most of it, until the unanticipated screaming starts, and the injured start crying for help.

A beer-trap is a trap used for slugs in the garden. ( You are not slug !) They sense, drink and fall in
then slowly drown in panicless bliss.

Last edited by memesplice on 26 Mar 2010, 2:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Grief- imagine your "soul" is like hair like on your head. Grief is a huge handfuls of living fiber being torn out from deep roots with no anesthetic . One person I met was on Anti D's for many years following sudden death of husband. She only began grieving for him when off the Anti D's years later . It is a painful process that broadens your understanding of many things and can not really be avoided.

Hardship is often the best tutor in life...

Very interesting. Thanks for writing this up, Salonfilosoof.

When I first started learning how to use my subconscious to guide me I thought I was incredibly special, psychic even. Now you say all NTs do this by default? Very interesting.

Definitely going to try and snag some methlyone. Although you can alter some aspie traits through meditation, might be a wee bit safer. I do intend to write something in depth on that at some time.

No problem. I'm glad I can share the insights I've gained. If it can help other people understand themselves or others better, then it was worth it.



Yes, all NTs do this by default. In fact, some people barely use their consciousness at all.

How did you learn how to use your subconscious? To what degree has your subconscious taken over from your consciousness? Do you notice a change in your emotional life when you let your subconscious take over? Do you notice a change in your capabilities? Please share some of your experiences with us. You just made me really curious because I also thought my case was pretty unique



So I understand your technique has been meditation then? Well, I'd love to know more about it.

Yes, by default. I think this is part of the miscommunication problem. If you do something subconsciously it can be devilishly difficult to pull it up to the conscious level and realize both why you have done something and why something affected you a certain way. If an NT person misinterprets an AS person's non-verbal signal (the infamous straight ahead stare, for example), they won't have a conscious awareness of why this stare makes them feel uncomfortable. Therefore they can't reality-check the basis of their discomfort and a non-verbal miscommunication stands unadressed and toxic. IF it were conscious it would be easier to reality-check and less likely to lead to problems between the two people. Left unconscious (which is the default), the NT person just feels "uncomfortable" when the staring AS person is around and the AS person feels unreasonably rejected for no stated reason. Miscommunication.

There are pros and cons to conscious and unconscious processing. Conscious processing has the advantage that you are aware of what you are doing and so able to reality-test it. But it's also very slow compared to unconscious processing and it also makes it nearly impossible to do social multi-tasking (a frequently stated problem here). Unconscious processing is fast and efficient. But it is also sometimes wrong and with no way to reality-check it, errors will be made.


I meditate too and have found that meditation is invaluable in bridging the divide between these two forms of processing. Some forms of meditation are about quieting the mind which allows for the very conscious chatterbox processor to take a step back. "Be the bow" as archery teachers might say. Other forms of meditation are about bringing unconscious processes into the conscious mind, such as conscious eating (which helps you lose weight since unaware eating is a problem).

Those are great questions. I've never really thought about it much before. You might be able to tell once I start typing.

First, I'm not even sure if what I'm doing is using my subconscious or just some kind of new use of conscious thought, to be quite honest. I might have been premature in describing what I do as 'using my subconscious'. Maybe you can confirm/deny? It's a very fuzzy area in my mind. And don't get me talking about emotions

I don't really recall how I started using my subconscious, it was just there one day. Possibly might have came about through my use of meditation. Until recently I was putting myself through a kind of severe self improvement program in the hope that somehow I could become normal. I didn't know about AS then. There are all sorts of things that I've done, some a bit weird, that could have contributed. I don't really want to go into detail now, but I will think on it and may add anything that I think might be useful.

Also (very important) I am a self diagnosed aspie. I don't rule out the possibility that what I have is actually something else. It does seem very likely that I am an aspie, just one that's somehow managed to do a bit of adaptation, by hook or by crook.

Anyway...
So it just turned on one day, or so it seemed. I could tune into things. I could begin deciphering 'vibes' and such, gauging rooms and moods and making leaps of 'logic' that didn't 'make sense' but turned out to be right. It's like thought has occurred but I didn't have to chase it from point A to B. Things pop into my head and I think they are crazy, because I'm so used to logical conscious thinking style that I don't trust them. But people often react very positively when I act on them. Surprises the hell out of me.

I couldn't say whether I use this to any great extent or not. I don't know if I'm very 'skilled' with it. I imagine there's a spectrum for it. I suppose that I can choose to 'feel' information in my mind, or think about it. That might sound a bit funny. It's really hard to do both at once. I'm not sure if it's possible. I switch between them depending on circumstance. I think subconscious processing is a more passive thing, and concious thought is energetic and active.



Yes meditation. Meditation has been the thing that has transformed my life for the better the most. I think that when done correctly it alters the way your brain functions, perhaps even permanently. I don't know, but there is some very interesting material out there about neuroscience and meditation.

Since I started regular meditation, I'm much calmer, less agitated, less depressed. My executive function is massively improved, and compulsivity and distractability way down. Meditation in the form I currently take it is essentially about expanding concentration like a muscle.

The way I read that back, it seems like I'm describing natural Ritalin.

I'm sure there are benefits that I can't even talk about because I've not even noticed them integrating with my system.

There's a short tutorial I wrote on my blog here if you'd like to read it. I'm not sure if there's enough info there to really get going or not. Just PM me if you'd like to understand more (offer is for anyone). Or I can point you to more in depth resources, and you can do your own investigations.

Concentration Meditation

I'm sure that drug experiences can do very similar things to meditation (actually, SWIM knows that they can)


This might be OT but you might find it interesting. It's related to seratonin/dopamine/happiness etc. I wrote a little bit on my old blog about the link between depression, anxiety, boredom, unhappiness. I'm pretty sure they are all interconnected. You might or might not like to read it, it's quite short.

Boredom is the struggle to maintain attention

Sorry for such a terribly long winded post.

Last edited by Moog on 26 Mar 2010, 4:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Great post Janissy. Thank you. I think you've really helped flesh out what I was saying in my last post and taken the conversation in some interesting directions that I didn't.

The meditation form that Janissy mentions that I didn't and might be more salient to this thread is called 'Vipassana' if you want to look that up. You basically sit down and observe all the stuff that goes on within you which usually goes unnoticed, that we do unconsciously or subconsciously.

In general usage, the term "subconscious" is used so loosely that it is almost "new age". It makes it difficult for me to understand what is written here. I guess I must be in the minority that doesn't get this as many people seem to be agreeing and going along. It's an unusual feeling for me.

I'm not sure where this FAQ or data comes from. It doesn't look "official" although it is written quite officially. Also, it seems strange that going from AS to NT is a simple as something called a dopamine "bomb". I'm not sure what that is either (the bomb part). Is it a legal drug/procedure or something that is the result of drug experimentation/recreation? I have not heard of prescriptions for "bombs" but I do not generally get a lot of prescriptions. I know it isn't a bomb in the literal sense, but some kind of massive dose, right? Controlled/refined or uncontrolled/street-level? How much is "bomb" level?

At first I thought this post was a jest, but so many people seem on board with it that this cannot be the case.

I guess I'm just confused here. Something feels 'wrong' about this data/conclusion to me, yet others are responding like this is the "gospel truth".

Star Trek reference: My tag is blinking... "Norman, coordinate".

I caught a contact high playing poker and let me explain how (and how I can sometimes mirror and feel and ride with someone’s emotions at the poker table).

It was a local tournament in which about 30% of the money goes to charity thereby making it legal. And hey, I’m doing pretty good, a bluff worked, I caught some cards and won some other hands. I’m almost to the final table.

This one guy in his early twenties is drunk. He sometimes isn’t aware that the action has come to him, doesn’t seem to fully understand that a raise has to at least double the bet. He’s ordering another drink. Several people comment. I say to the guy next to me, ‘might be an advantage.’ He says, ‘as long as he doesn’t slow the progress of the game too much.’

And it begins to occur to me that it might be an advantage to me, that other people are getting upset. And I begin to find it slightly humorous that other people are getting upset.

I make the final table, even though I have a low chip stack. I lay down on the floor of a side room for a couple of minutes to rest and collect my energy.

Now, there’s a couple of precursors. I have a speech impediment/speech difference. I have nasal speech. I sometimes feel my voice is making its way through cotton, although I feel I have a great phone voice. I just can't project that well. And it might just be that the uvula at the back of my throat is bigger than average. Two dentists have told me that, but none of several ENT doctors. Some people stereotype me as gay, although I think my voice is miles away from any kind of stereotypical ‘gay’ voice. It’s just a sign of how limited people’s language can be, or how people try to pigeon-hole a difference.

Less rarely, people stereotype me as drunk. And that would end up playing to my advantage. And, I had recently been watching some Columbo episodes on DVD and I love the way he raises a hand in surprise and/or belabors a point.

The final table starts. Now, I am familiar enough with people’s reactions that when the drunk guy does something outrageous or stupid, I find it directly funny because I am anticipating their reactions. People begin to think I am drunk, too!

The waitress comes to the table. I think what would be the most outrageous thing to order. I order ice cream!

So, I am ‘inappropriately’ laughing, I have my speech difference, and I have a little bit of the Lt. Columbo thing going. And I am playing with zen immediacy. Not a clunk move of what I ‘should’ do or trying to play two moves ahead. But here and now.

I catch a pocket pair of 8’s. I’m getting low. I think about it and go all in, hoping to pick up the blinds and antes. A guy thinks about it and calls. He has A,K. It’s the classic pocket pair vs. two overcards. That’s essentially 50-50 and I win the race. I get lucky and win the hand (and to do well in poker, in addition to playing well, you’ve got to get lucky and catch at least some cards).

It was a little bit the demand characterists, people thought I was drunk, and so I play along. I hammed it up, pausing when the action got to me, all part of the zen here and now and the feeling it.

At one point, the drunk guy does something even more outrageous, I’m laughing and let myself go with it and really laugh. The spoon from my ice cream slips off the saucer onto the table. Another player, trying to be helpful, or trying to be matter-of-fact, say ‘you’re about ready to get the ice cream on the cards.’ Oh, I saw it, I saw things with great clarity, I could tell you that the spoon was exactly two inches from my cards, but his earnestness make me laugh all the harder.

I win second place. At the end, I tightened up and lost a little of the zen immediacy (plus the cards kind of went against me, there is a fair amount of luck involved in the game).


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Sometimes in poker, in a casino, I can open myself and let myself experience and feel what someone else at the table is feeling. And if they’re happy or slightly pissed off, that’s extremely valuable to know. I kind of ride with the person, or at least I think I do. It’s a right-brain thing so I guess you never really know for sure, although poker does have a fair amount of feedback, more than in many other areas of life.

This takes a lot of energy. I can maybe sustain this for 45 minutes.

It sometimes helps if I have clip-on sunglasses and I take them off and the world is suddenly alive and colorful. And if I move kind of slowly and clumsily and feel everything.


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Okay, in addition . . . Many of the monthly columns in Cardplayer magazine are merely so-so, but the occasion one has a type of writing which I don’t know if I’ve ever seen before. A writer will tell how he right-brained it and felt his way through a hand, and later at his leisure he will left-brain it and logically think through the same hand. It’s amazing. I guess baseball pitcher could do the same thing. Or a doctor could write how he or she felt their way through a tricky diagnosis and later left-brained it and reviewed. I just haven’t seen that in writing. But I have seen it in writing with poker.

If I catch a moonbeam and get the right kind of energy, I will try and include a link to such a Cardplayer column (although no promises).


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(And, I carefully read Caro, Sklansky, Hansen, etc. I kept a poker diary. And I broke even, with both winning weeks and losing weeks. Perhaps the most important thing is, if you’re on a downward slide, a proper fold will not pull you out of it but will keep you from sliding even further down and that can be just as important---but even knowing that is probably not enough. So please, be careful!)